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Additionally, I like to pay with cash when I don't want my purchasing habits to be collected by the store or my creditor. I find it disturbing how our modern ec
by m0th87 17y ago
Additionally, I like to pay with cash when I don't want my purchasing habits to be collected by the store or my creditor. I find it disturbing how our modern economy makes the task of collecting information on one's interests and identity so effortless. I wouldn't want it to become all the easier.
- rglullis 17y agoThe plastic equivalent of cash would not necessarily have your personal information attached to it. Think of it like a prepaid phone. You could go to a Post Office and buy (using your credit card or check) a card with a predetermined value.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoYou could go to a post office and buy, in a transaction which is linked to you, a uniquely identifiable card with a predetermined value?
- rglullis 17y agoYes. You could then show that the person has "bought cash", but not what was bought with it. How is it different from a $100 gift card from any store?
- yummyfajitas 17y agoA gift card also lets the store track your purchases (unless of course you give it away). The anonymity advantage of cash is that it cycles through the register in a non-deterministic manner. If I buy a $20 bill (serial number 123) from an ATM, and it later winds up at PotMart, that is not compelling evidence I went to PotMart. If I bought a prepaid cash card and it was spent at PotMart, that indicates with decent probability that I purchased some weed.
- sjs 17y agoIt would be easy enough to identify regular customers when they in their home town. These days it isn't all that difficult to pair someone's spending habits with their location an do a bit of online research to find out who they are. If one was careful about it they could probably stay relatively anonymous though.