toasterOven

joined 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

It’s not just a problem with banks. KYC oppression has targeted VOIP customers too.

 

cross-posted from: https://eviltoast.org/post/10253328

I could not place a call over VOIP, so I logged into my voip account on the website where my account is managed. Saw the usual tabs for checking my balance, call history, profile, etc. Plus a new tab “KYC”.

WTF people. KYC has turned my bank into a police station that pisses all over privacy. What’s going on here? Is it that no one resisted KYC in banking, so now they have decided to start deploying it in other areas?

Entering the KYC tab tells me:

“Your account is unverified. We need:

  • selfie of you holding your ID card
  • copy of your ID card
  • utility bill or bank statement

This is so fucked up. Have any other VOIP users noticed this?

It turns out I can still make calls -- it was just a temporary glitch. But I guess I should ditch this VOIP provider.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There are over 6000 banks and credit unions in the US. And all 6k of them miraculously manage to be shit. I don’t get it. You would think out of that many choices there would be one non-shit option.

Though to be fair credit unions only give the illusion of independent and small. They actually all outsource to other giant corps, so it amounts to fewer choices than it appears.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So IIUC, that clip is not just a voice print that verifies my voice, but a recording which can then be used to recreate my voice. Cyber criminals are going apeshit with all the AI and voice impersonation lately.

Banks are such a shit show there is no better alternative than what I have and ideally I would ditch all banks entirely. I really need to be able to force my bank to not keep my voice on record. But I suppose that’s not an option. I probably have no choice but to try to choose the least shitty bank over the others.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I covered this in my footnote. Billpay services are free for a reason. Whatever that reason is, I don’t trust it. Banks themselves do not do the billpay service in house. They outsource it. Which means an outside 3rd party is getting that sensitive info and providing a service for free. Fuck that. I would rather buy stamps. (but I don’t do paper checks either for complex reasons)

 

I call my credit card supplier to make a payment over the phone. This is because other payment methods are a shitshow¹. The robot says it will record my voice and use it for verification purposes. I’m not okay with that so I press buttons until a human comes on. I order the payment to draw from a checking acct. Then the operator transferred me a bot that said “state your name to confirm this payment”. Now what? I was trapped.

I wonder if this is something I should be giving a shit about. My data is routinely exfiltrated by criminals. I’m not sure if voice prints are being stolen in that way or how they might be used. Perhaps voice print is even more secure for the consumer. If the voiceprint cannot be used to create a voice, only to verify it, then a voice print may even be less useful for criminals than security questions. Any thoughts on this?

¹ (billpay is outsourced likely to a privacy abuser; will not do autopay because I want control [the purpose of privacy]; mailing a paper check is best for privacy but cannot be bothered for various reasons).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This is half the reason he doesn’t want to do it.

I really hope the democrats take full advantage of spinning that as yet another anti-democratic Trump move.. that it’s anti-democratic to impede informed voting.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Interesting that they are still today apparently served by mentioning Obama’s middle name.

Whenever I see Obama referred to by his full name, I instantly know that the author is pushing manipulative islamaphobic dog-whistle propaganda and everything else by such authors automatically has zero credibility, lacks substance, and the drivel is a waste of time to finish reading. I wonder if that manipulation attempt is still largely unknown, or if the rt-wing nut jobs are really just out of touch with the pursuadables they are trying to reach and thus shooting themselves in the foot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I must say he’s right about one thing: the US is a one-party system.

Or more specifically I would say the US is a two-party system for white men (+Kanye West) and a one-party system for everyone else.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

NY Times is a closed website. Paywalled or something? I could not reach it from Tor at least not with my browser. Could be a popup-blocker blocker, not sure. Anyway, the link I gave is a NY Times front-end that is openly accessible, though clearnet users might have to append a .cab or something. There are probably NY Times FEs on clearnet but I don’t know of any ATM.

(edit) actually I think that’s NY Times official onion server. Anyway, for whatever reason it has better accessibility than the clearnet version.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Hold the debate anyway. Have Kamala appear next to an empty chair.

Moderator: giving Trump a couple more minutes to appear.

(~5 min later)

Moderator: Trump is a no show. Hmm.. he originally eagerly agreed to this September debate with Biden. It’s unclear why the change of heart, but I have to say he forfeits by default.

Kamala (interrupts): Hold on, please call Trump’s probation officer to verify his attendance permission while we wait a few more min. He’s understandably a bit skiddish with prosecutors lately but I would like to yield some of my time & do him this courtesy since he donated to my campaign in 2011 & 2013.

(~5 min later)

Moderator: no go, but would you like to answer the questions next to an empty chair to have your answers heard anyway?

Kamala: yes, this way he can take all the time he needs to prepare a scripted response later given his cognitive challenges….

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (21 children)

Ha! I predicted this!

I also predicted Biden’s disaster and asked people around me why the fuck is Biden going to debate Trump. People said “he has no choice”. I found that quite questionable. Now Trump seems to be proving that candidates have a choice.

Sure Trump’s cowardice will damage his campaign. But getting an ass-beating in the debate is even more damaging, as Biden proved. So Trump is making his best tactical move for his ability.

(edit)
I would like it if the headlines were “Trump forfeits the debate” to rightfully emphasize the lossy nature of the decision.