A library of snippets
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“Scams of this type are becoming fairly common on the ‘killer’ P2P payments app, leading others on Twitter to question its reliability as a payment method, especially when other online transaction routes exist—like cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, for instance.”
Bitcoin vs Venmo: Lessons Learned from ‘Craigslist Jeff’ | Bank Innovation
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“A German appeals court on Wednesday rejected the pleas from a dead girl’s parents who wanted access to the 15-year-old’s Facebook account. The social networking site fought the parents, claiming that opening the account would breach the privacy of the girl’s contacts.”
Court: Dead daughter’s parents have no right to access her Facebook account | Ars Technica
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“14% of China’s population relies on mobile payments to get around, carrying no cash, according to a survey conducted by (link in Chinese) Renmin University of China”
Alibaba’s (BABA) “cashless week” to boost mobile payments is angering China’s central bank — Quartz
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“The judge agreed and Gideon sent the documents to Santander’s court orders team, which faxed over the fraudster’s bank statements, postal addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.”
Hero who tracked bank fraudsters to win back £20k | Daily Mail Online
Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the story to suggest that the police were able to use these details to collar the fraudsters.
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“A year 8 student was bragging to her friends that she’s been earning money by opening bank accounts at all the high street banks and given £25 to give the details and send internet banking login details/key pads to someone.”
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“‘These small charges can really add up and this change will mean shoppers across the country have that bit of extra cash to spend on the things that matter to them.’”
August • Future of Retail – Credit card payment fees to be scrapped
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“The motoring organisation’s survey of 16,000 members suggests seven out of 10 would look for parking elsewhere rather than use the ‘pay by phone’ meters.”
via Drivers avoid pay-by-phone parking bays, says the AA – BBC News
Who are these people? I sign with relief when I pull into a car park and see the signs that I can pay with my phone instead of rummaging around on my hands in knees to try to find a couple of quid in coins.
I love RingGo. It works great. One minor plea though: even Arriva buses have managed to add ApplePay to their in-app payment options, so please can you? I forget my CVV about one in every three times I use the app and I’d like to be able to switch between personal and business cards on the fly.
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“Data on Sia are broken into pieces and stored on multiple computers, a method intended to keep data accessible even when some hosts are offline.”
Their invention is valued at $250 million. Here’s why they’re not satisfied – The Boston Globe
I remember writing about “eternity servers” a couple of decades ago (approvingly, as I thought it was a good idea).
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“She was shocked to learn in 2014 that Sammons had sold the painting to a Liechtenstein gallery for the ‘egregiously low price’ of $650,000, her suit says.”
Countess claims art dealer shortchanged her: suit | New York Post
This is the sort of thing that can happen when you have a market that is as opaque as, say, Bitcoin trading.
The Talmud also deals with identity in the context of reputation and social networks See Tractate Sanhedrin – folio 23a https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.23a.22?lang=bi As Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Witnesses do not sign a document unless they know who is signing with them. One does not sign a document unless he recognizes that those signing with him are fit to bear witness.
Returning to the matter itself, Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Witnesses do not sign a document unless they know who is signing with them. That is also taught in a baraita: This is what the scrupulous people of Jerusalem would do: They would not sign a document unless they knew who was signing with them, and they would not sit in judgment unless they knew who was sitting with them, and they would not join a meal unless they knew who was reclining, i.e., eating, with them.
The medieval scholar Rashi (1040-1105) explains that one needs to know one’s co-witness, because of the potential reputational damage to oneself of countersigning a document which is invalidated because of character defects of one’s co-signatory. The concern is that third parties will hear that the document has been rendered invalid and may assume that you are the cause (no smoke without fire).
Snippings