Banks are gradually removing features from their websites in a progression toward complete elimination of the website. Some banks have already taken that step. They impose an app whilst also closing their over-the-counter service.
Unlike the US, 1-factor authentication by banks is illegal in Belgium. So for web access banks typically hand out devices for 2FA. Some banks avoid that cost by imposing a smartphone app in lieu of a card reader or RSA token (BYO smartphone).
There are many problems with bank apps in Belgium:
You must buy smartphone hardware (the apps detect when they are executed inside a virtual machine & deny service [tested with Ing’s app])
You must patronize a surveillance capitalist (create a Google or Apple account)
2.1. You must subscribe to mobile phone service in order to satisfy Google’s unreasonable demand for a mobile phone number as a precondition to obtaining an account
2.2. You must trust Google with your mobile phone number, IMEI number, and inventory of apps & versions you download (thus a reconnaissance risk)
2.3. When Google records your place of banking, you must trust Google not to share that info (with debt collectors, for example)
All bank apps in Belgium are closed-source, so you must trust the apps not to carry spyware and to work in your interests
3.1. The bank’s privacy policies are written to allow your realtime location to be tracked via the app.
You must chronically upgrade your hardware every few years because the bank apps are upgraded with reckless disregard to the lockstep-coupling of hardware to software on all phone platforms that are supported by Belgian banks. You cannot run a VM to prevent irresponsible electronic waste (see point 1)
The #GDPR possibly (and only symbolically¹) protects from some of that, such as Google sharing your place of banking with debt collectors. But the GDPR does not prevent criminal exfiltration of data that cavalier consumers trustingly agree to the collection of.
Footnotes:
I say “symbolically” because consumers only have two pathways for remedy under the GDPR: article 77 & direct lawsuit. Article 77 has no teeth. When the DPA ignores/mothballs an art.77 complaint, there is no mechanism for action against the DPA. So DPAs are largely neglecting to treat art.77 reports. That leaves direct lawsuits. The EU has decided that GDPR plaintiffs are not entitled to compensation for legal fees. So that kills that option. You can get a symbolic win in court but you still lose because lawsuits are costly and the damages you can prove are negligable. So the GDPR boils down to an honor system.
I say this with the best intentions, and you have every right to take all these things into consideration, but you’re sounding very paranoid. I think your best option would be to immediately withdraw any funds you receive and keep a completely paper administration.
It’s more about ethics than security. I’m an ethical consumer, which means I will not patronize unethical companies. Feeding data to Google is as good as feeding money to Google. Google is part of the fossil fuel industry (they are in partnership with Totaal oil and use AI to help Totaal find places to drill for oil). My objection to Google collecting data on me is less about cyberattack and more about not supporting a harmful force in the world.
I’m also ethically opposed closed-source software because I think it misplaces power. The worst kind of misplacement of power is to give it to tech giants who abuse their power and use it against consumers.
I’m also ethically opposed to software designs that make phones disposable and force the disposal of perfectly good hardware. I’ll buy a smartphone after that problem is fixed. #RightToRepair is still insufficient. There needs to be a rule that the moment a phone maker decides to stop supporting a device, they must do whatever necessary to ensure the platform (kernel + drivers + gui) are FOSS at that point of dropped support. I’ll wait for it. I can hold out as long as needed.
W.r.t. paranoia, street wise people and those with some infosec background always seem “paranoid” to normal people. And to us, normal people are cavalier because they needlessly share information without applying the rule of least privilege. Privilege should only be granted on an as-needed basis and that includes access to information. It’s unreasonable for banks to snoop on people arbitrarily without a warrant. It’s not just that the banks abuse the info, but the overcollection exposes everyone to exfiltration by criminals. That’s not fiction - it has happened. (Captial One via Amazon contractor, Equifax, several other banks including a bank breach I recently detected but have not reported yet). I have already been the victim of multiple data breaches even with some diligence to not be completely reckless.
Trusting banks with sensitive info is the least of the problems I describe & possibly not a show-stopper in itself. But taking everything together I remain baffled at the zombie masses endorsing & supporting all of it. A basic information security class should perhaps become part of the mandatory secondary school cirriculums at this point.
My man… You are not getting around the tracking. It’s never going to happen. Unless you literally toss everything with a network connection and disconnect from the electric, gas, and water grids, you are going to be tracked.
You are not getting around the tracking. It’s never going to happen.
I do. I only access banks electronically if they accommodate Tor. The bank only gets to know my physical location when I do a transaction where that’s unavoidable. Even if I were to carry a mobile phone on standby wherever I go, the bank would get nothing from it if I don’t run their app.
I only access banks electronically if they accommodate Tor.
So they know when you logged in and what you did when you got there. So you can’t escape it there.
The bank only gets to know my physical location when I do a transaction where that’s unavoidable.
So you can’t escape this either.
Even if I were to carry a mobile phone on standby wherever I go, the bank would get nothing from it if I don’t run their app.
They would get nothing except the time, location, amount, business, and how that relates to the other purchases you make and all the data those transactions generate as well. That data is shared with the bank, Visa or MasterCard, and all credit reporting agencies. This is unavoidable too.
You are not getting out of this unless you allow it to seriously affect your life.
I figured you were trolling but gave you the benefit of the doubt right up until you mentioned “all credit reporting agencies”, in Belgium. There are no credit bureaus in Belgium, only a central bank which (unlike US credit bureaus) is public sector and not interested in grabbing data for profit, or in obtaining any data it’s not legally required to obtain.
Nice try though.
But FYI, your assumption would be wrong even in the US as well. Request your credit report from whichever credit bureau you believe is buying location data from your mobile phone provider. Notice the realtime location data is not on that report. Then go to your local small claims court and spend ~$100 to open a lawsuit against them for $1k (+~100 in court costs). Bring to court proof that they acquired your realtime CDMA/GSM location data, a copy of your credit report showing it’s not there, and a copy of the federal law requiring that consumer credit reports are complete when sent to the subject of the report (yourself). It might be the easiest $1k you’ve earned. You don’t have to prove actual damages either because the statute specifies $1k per violation. If you can catch all three credit bureaus doing what you claim, that’s an easy $3k. You can even hit all 3 in one case. Good luck!
BTW, I don’t put much stock into what you’re saying at this point but I am curious about the claim that phone providers are sharing sensitive personal info with Visa and Mastercard. Cardholders are just a number to visa & mc. Visa & MC do not even typically know the names of card holders. Exceptionally, if you buy airfare using a credit card, then the airline reveals the name of the passenger to the credit card company. Though to store that name as the account holder is ad hoc because they would have to make the assumption that the passenger and the buyer are the same person.
It isn’t very well paid per time invested, but my mum sells knitted mittens on the national equivalent of Ebay, since she likes to knit while watching telly anyway. She can sell a pair for about 3 times the cost of the material
Edit: I’ve myself done some paracord bracelets and sold, in the same manner, using what is essentially “free” time. It’s fairly easy to do, and you can get the costs down quite a bit if you import and buy in bulk
market yourself as a computer hardware/software repair guy at all of the nursing homes/retirement communities in the area. market it towards your target demographic, using font styles and language that they’d be familiar with in the 1960s - 1980s. be sure to show up clean shaven with a tie. be polite - yes mam/yes sir. charge through the nose.
I bet you could build up a significant dental fund within 6 to 8 months.
Flipping, you can sell things on eBay, mercari, fb marketplace, Craigslist, etc. Start by selling things you already own that you no longer want. Then you go out and find things that you're knowledgeable about and buy those, then resell them. I've sold over $8k this year ($5k after costs) and I don't put a lot of effort into it.
It’s been a while, but when I was in college and right after, I used Amazon Mechanical Turk with some useful plugins and a helpful subreddit (HitsWorthTurkingFor I think it was called, not sure if its active). Prolific used to be good, but I’m sure that’s changed a lot since its early days.
Irony: I clicked on this post because an unemployed friend of mine recently had their mechanical turk account suspended for no clear reason. They're still waiting on the appeal process two months later...
For anyone considering this work, you should also be prepared for your "employers" to randomly reject your submitted work and deny you pay. Good times.
When I really needed extra money I donated plasma. It’s one of those things that pays you more the more you do it, still not a lot but everything helps. Also seconding dental schools, it won’t be free but can save you thousands
They do charge, but it would be less than similar work at a regular dentist's. Which would hopefully reduce the amount of money OP needs, either getting him into care earlier, or reducing the amount of stress he has while he gets the money together.
I will look into the dental schools in my area, thank you. I was so focused on finding a local dentist that would take an uninsured patient that it completely slipped my mind.
There are lots of translation, copywriting and voice acting jobs on freelance websites but obviously that won’t pay much as the requirements are usually just knowing English (but they do prefer native English speakers, + obviously another language if doing translaiton).
I wish I had even a mote of bilingual ability, translation work sounds like it would be interesting. I should definitely try my hand at amateur voice work though! That's a great idea, and I would never have considered it an option. Thank you!
Honestly the best side hustle is to better yourself and ultimately find a better primary hustle. Side hustles don’t do much more than steal your already limited leisure time.
Yup. Collecting rent is passive income. But you actually need to be rich enough to own the property before you can collect rent.
Interest is passive income. But you need to have enough money to actually make the interest payments worth more than a few cents.
Investment returns are passive income. But you need to have enough invested, in a broad enough portfolio, to reliably pay dividends or return growth. To the point that a market dip in one sector won’t kill your investments.
Find an exchange traded real estate investment trust and throw every spare dollar you have at it, now you're collecting rent without owning property. Typically paid quarterly unlike dividends which are usually every 6 months.
Currency is toilet paper, turn it into assets as fast as you can.
I have to disagree with your point about the references to modern technology sticking out like a sore thumb. I binge the whole show at least once a year and there are countless jokes throughout the series poking fun at technology that was relevant at air date. The first one that comes to mind is Amy’s comically small cell phone (which was a flip phone) that she couldn’t carry around because the wireless charger was the size of a toaster.
Another that I can quickly think of is the way they portray the internet, and the direct references to websites like Napster. They even resorted to making jokes based off of internet memes that have LONG since died off. For example, the entire conflict between Fry and Leela in the episode with the MomCorp eyePhone is based on the popularity of Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent from who knows what year.
If references to modern tech are off-putting to you, you haven’t payed any attention in older episodes.
I enjoyed it. They had a lot of the silly moments that earlier futurama had. Like bender accidentally hitting zoidberg, or just random things happening.
Those didn’t happen the last few seasons of futurama.
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