When an online merchant accepts #Paypal or credit card, is Paypal still in the loop if credit card is used? I ask because I #boycottPaypal, & wonder if I should also avoid using a CC at PP-accepting merchants.
@resist1984 Well, if you going that far, maybe consider #boycottFiat? Some stores use payment processors like CoinGate, CoinPayments, OpenNode, Globee and others, and they do support payments via #LightningNetwork, which gives very private #bitcoin payments. For example, you can go to bitrefill.com, refill sim card (while browsing via #Tor btw), and use that prepaid card to pay for some small "fiat-sms" payments where applicable. Also, use gift cards, or just pay directly to e-store in BTC.
@Talkless No chance I'll boycott fiat. There is a #WarOnCash (read: war on privacy). To fight that war on the side of privacy, I favor cash notes whenever possible & boycott cashless b&m shops. Cash notes have more privacy than the cryptocurrencies. Online payment is tricky. Cryptocurrency is best in that case, but hard to get & acceptance is low.
@Talkless Things will improve when cryptocurrency becomes more available. Kind of. It's a catch22 because visa is promoting cryptocurrency themselves because they believe it will help them eliminate cash.
@Talkless @resist1984 I'd do with #monero as it's fungible like cash.
@Talkless My #boycott on #Amazon, #walmart, & #paypal really narrows options to start with. So in the end my question still stands. Note that I also boycott #visa & #mastercard because they are members of the #BetterThanCashAlliance, and I boycott #AmEx b/c it's an #ALEC member. So short of cryptocurrency that leaves #discovercard.
@resist1984 (about narrowing options) Well, write to your local e-store and state your concern and ask them to consider accepting #btc. You can find sellers that use #Amazon as a front-end, and take business with them directly.
@Talkless i'm glad you mentioned bitrefill.com.. that seems to open up some options.
@resist1984 Check https://lightningnetworkstores.com/ and https://cryptwerk.com/ . There are probably more such aggregators in the wild.
@Talkless #lightningnetworkstores & #cryptwerk are also #CloudFlare sites, so they are useless to me.
@resist1984 These sites are aggregators, you have to look at the actual stores if they use #CloudFlare cancer. Though good idea, I should start writing to the vendors and ask them to get over with CF disease...
@Talkless You might want to reference this or parts thereof in the #CloudFlare fight: https://git.disroot.org/cyberMonk/liberethos_paradigm/src/branch/master/rap_sheets/cloudflare.md
@Talkless oh shit, no it doesn't. I just realized #bitrefill is a #CloudFlare site. I boycott CF, which tends to put many cryptocurrency options out of reach. Most exchangers use CF.
@Talkless @resist1984 Cryptocurrencies are currently an environmental disaster and not as private as many people thing (e.g. Bitcoin keeps all transaction records public and searchable, and buying Bitcoin anonymously is difficult).
I'm putting my hopes in GNU Taler (https://taler.net/en/), which gives true anonymity to payers, does not require proof of work, and cannot be turned into a speculation game. If I had to give up cash for one electronic alternative, it would be this one.
@resist1984 so which card stays in the loop removing visa and MasterCard? 🤔
@resist1984 Yeah I too use cash where possible, but They can just stop printing cash, while stopping #bitcoin will be harder... It's digital cash, maintained by volunteers in decentralized way.