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[โ€“] 16 points 4 months ago (9 children)

"The biggest hurdle in the negotiations was likely whether the new means of payment should function exclusively online or also independently of an active internet connection."

How can this even be a question? As long as governments don't give me free internet access and the minimum of required hardware making it online only would be rediculous. Either it's a working system for all citizens not just those who can afford it or it's a conceptional stillbirth.

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    It is technically impossible to make it function without the internet. It's called the double spending problem and it can only be solved with some sort of global consensus state

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    How do payments on planes work?

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 4 months ago

    Poorly. The transactions clear when the plane lands, and this is a significant headache for airlines. More modern airlines have satellite internet onboard for this purpose, but it costs a lot to install on an airframe.

    Source: worked in payments and asked an airline head pilot.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    How do banks work then? Transfers in cash? Or does that global consensus state in fact not rely on realtime communication?

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Banks form a network. Information is easier to copy than raw materials. Optic fiber is fast you know

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago

    And the digital euro is not connected to a bank? The digital euro is supposed to be a souvereign EU way of paying independent from 3rd party providers, yet somehow they can't do what they can for 'technical reasons'? Where is the digital euro actually happeneing? In some magical cloud that is totally not just someone elses (...a banks ...) computer? Ffs... ages ago we sorted out the "double spending" problem to pay with just our signature, yet now it's technically impossible without a constant internet connection...

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    They will probably use secure elements (a small, tamper-resistant chip in your phone) and limit transaction amounts when you're offline. As long as the other party has an internet connection, it will be impossible to double spend. There may also be a warning about an increased risk if you attempt an offline transaction. However, if there is no internet access and the fraudster is able to inevitably spoof/emulate/attack a secure element, the security mechanisms would fail and a double spend would be possible. This will be detected as soon as internet access is available again. As it requires a personal presence, the police should be reasonably capable of fighting such crime.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago

    As long as the other party has an internet connection, it will be impossible to double spend

    This is online not offline

    Look if the tech is shitty enough to require installing facial recognition in every single store it will cause enormous amounts of problems

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  • [โ€“] 13 points 4 months ago (29 children)

    Looking forward to the digital euro

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  • [โ€“] 20 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    I'll celebrate when I finally can ditch VISA and Mastercard. I already don't use them anymore domestically thanks to Twint, but as soon as I cross the border they are currently my only option (even for getting cash).

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  • [โ€“] 11 points 4 months ago* (3 children)

    Had to google Twint. It's a Swiss payment app, right?

    If I got this right, the recent Wero should be its โ‚ฌ-equivalent (edit: eurozone, not โ‚ฌ per se).

    The digital euro on the other hand - again, if I understand it correctly - is digital cash. So to pay with it, you'd have to have a specific digital pocket for it and then exchange Swiss franc for euro/digital euro.

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  • [โ€“] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Yup, it's our home grown payment app that is widely accepted, from your local butcher and farm store to Mediamarkt and all major grocery stores.

    Most of us have Euro accounts too, so exchanging money to use the digital euro abroad is no real issue. I go shopping for groceries and personal hygiene products in Germany once or twice per week.

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  • [โ€“] 14 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    I'm afraid this is just an excuse for mass surveillance. At least, getting rid of American services is definitely a win.

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  • [โ€“] 13 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    The EU is not the bad guy you are looking for. You are already being mass surveilled by Visa and Mastercard.

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  • [โ€“] 13 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    The EU are absolutely the bad guys if not kept on a short leash. I'm not very confident Chat Control would be stopped unless for the massive campaigning to educate them. They already want to weaken GDPR. Are we the US yet? No, but we all need to be very wary of the power creep. They are also looking into age-verification laws to protect the kids. Not all things EU are benevolent.

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 4 months ago

    Completely agree. I'm hugely supportive of the EU, the things it has accomplished and the future potential. However, blindly agreeing with everything it does with black and white thinking is how we sleepwalk into our own authoritarian dystopia.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago

    Oh, they are absolutely the bad guy we are looking for. Constantly working on undermining our privacy rights on behalf of lobbyists from US companies and organisations competing against those US companies now mostly in control of our data, is neither good nor pro EU souvereignity.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago (13 children)

    Hopefully its not such a shit show like wero is now

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 4 months ago (12 children)

    Is it a shitshow? Afaik it's "just" super lackluster, missing vital functionality

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (10 children)

    I have four accounts that support wero. For each, its baked into the banking app. Each is totally different. While one can even generate qr codes for payment, the other only supports phone numbers from my address book, cant even input a number.

    Oh, and it leaks my Iban if I actually pay with it.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah I think the biggest problem of Wero is that you need to use your bank app.

    Bank apps are usually bloated and shitty, and each one works differently. Just give us a basic and standard Wero app.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 4 months ago

    There even is an official wero app, but you cannot use it when your bank offers wero in theirs.

    In my opinion the whole thing with wero being tied to your checking account is stupid. Most people have one. And dont want to give out the account data to their primary salary to everyone.

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  • [โ€“] 12 points 4 months ago* (10 children)

    There is no "reject all" option for the cookies on this website?

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  • [โ€“] 12 points 4 months ago (7 children)

    In Germany its legal to demand payment for reject all, that's what you're seeing at heise ๐Ÿคก

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  • [โ€“] 29 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    It's illegal in EU. There is an ongoing complaint against Heise submitted to Data protection authority in North Rhine-Westphalia. Just because the responsible authority has been dragging out the decision for four years, doesn't make it legal.

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  • [โ€“] 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Puh, the roadmap reads like a 5 year plan. I thought the digital euro was way closer to being introduced. Wasn't there news about it starting in early 2027 a few month back?

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 4 months ago

    Lol I can't get past the german cookie-wall

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