An Important Step Towards Smart Card Payments Instead of Cash
The significance of ad filtering
In my circle of acquaintances, some are particularly afraid of being monitored in the digital space, so they don’t use a bank card for payments, only cash. Unfortunately, their fear is not entirely unfounded, as there are numerous known abuses, and scammers cause harm to many. But beyond fraud, a much more common danger is manipulation. I often tell these people that currently, we are not the ones being targeted for surveillance; in fact, we are as valuable as the money advertisers can extract from us.
You Don’t Necessarily Have to Give up the Convenience of Card Payments
While the fear of scammers and phishing is not unfounded, you don’t have to immediately give up the convenience of card payments. The main goal is to take our small change. And what is the bait they throw at us? Advertisements. These ads are becoming increasingly personalized and manipulative with phishing tools. The well-known scholar Shoshana Zuboff attributes this phenomenon to surveillance capitalism.
The First Important Step in Defending Against Manipulation
Unfortunately, we have relatively few opportunities to limit the collection of our data, but of course, this is also important. However, cash payment is not the first step towards this. With less inconvenient tools, we can prevent the data collected about us from being used to gain our money. As a first step, it is advisable not to limit data collection but to build protection against advertisements. If we don’t see the bait, we won’t fall into the trap
The Illusion of Content Being Free on The Internet
We can mostly achieve this by limiting advertisements. We use ad-blocking browsers or, for example, pay for a service to be ad-free. It may seem like a cliché, but we still need to learn that nothing is truly free. Facebook, for instance, advertises itself as free and will remain so. Facebook is not free. You pay for Facebook by viewing ads. Facebook and all social media platforms would only be free if they had a button to turn off all ads. Such a button doesn’t exist because these platforms primarily thrive by tailoring ads to your identity, and if we fall for the bait, our money pays the price, even if we keep it in cash. (Facebook is considering introducing a paid, ad-free version, but, of course, that won’t be free either).
Cash Or Card?
In an ideal world, we have control over our data precisely so that companies and politicians cannot use it against us. In the 21st century, with the advancement of artificial intelligence and technology, data collection methods will become more sophisticated. It’s currently uncertain whether the laws guaranteeing data protection will be able to keep pace with these changes. Individual responsibility, therefore, increases to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the harmful effects of data collection and, ultimately, advertisements. In this battle, filtering ads takes precedence over cash payments, which, by the way, also protect our data.
