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666 points jcartw | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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nirui ◴[] No.43621834[source]
I'm thinking, maybe controversially, centralized national payment service like this should be government-run based on my experience with Alipay which is a digital payment service in China.

Due to it's commercial origin, Alipay is filled with unwanted ads and traps. Almost every time I made a payment with it, a pop up prompts me to enlist their Ant Financial LOAN service either now, or being prompted for the same question again 30 days later (yep, not Yes or No, but Now or Later). It's just fucking ridiculous, I don't need a LOAN for a $400 projector, and I don't need a LOAN for a $4 hair cut (Xi should probably do something about it, really).

I'm glad that at least people of Brazil don't have to suffer that kind of shit. At least their government-run program is better scrutinized and boring, thus more dependable, that's a good thing in my eyes.

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timewizard ◴[] No.43624442[source]
Until you say something the government doesn't like and they decide that part of your punishment should be lack of access to payment services.

I'd prefer a constitutional mandate or guarantee that this can't happen. Without it this is a noose. A convenient noose with lots of nice properties but a noose none the less.

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1. charlie90 ◴[] No.43627630[source]
As opposed to Visa/MC deciding that? At least I can vote for the government...
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2. Aspos ◴[] No.43627652[source]
And its not a far-fetched example as both VISA/MC actually have a history of effectively banning legitimate businesses for no particular reason.