Google CEO: Android update "could replace credit cards" | Hacker News Reader

Google CEO: Android update "could replace credit cards"

money.cnn.com

38 pointsFluidDjango18 comments

It continues to amaze me how easily and nonchalantly terms like "near-field communications", "enhanced image technology" and the like are accepted by the general public without raising concern or question as to their intent or necessity.

We live in a world where technology has provided us with amazing advancements and benefits, but it continually butts up against the privacy that we are supposedly guaranteed as citizens of the US (yes, I am only talking about America here since I'm not familiar w/ the laws 'n liberties of other countries). Privacy is a pluralistic concept that must be practiced on a daily basis if it is to survive amongst the constant barrage of "features" being sold to us. I want someone to be able to read the RFID software running on my Droid without my explicit consent no more than I want them to take naked pictures of me when I have shown no possible indication that I have an intent on hurting others.

Sure, turn your wifi/APN/Bluetooth/GPS off and only turn them on when you want to use them (ignoring the battery issues), but this treats our right to privacy as the alternate option, not the default one. I shouldn't have to be forced on a daily basis to constantly defend my default option of privacy, but I am. Do I use credit cards and have GPS turned on? Sure. Does that make me a hypocrite?

Absolutely not.

It's my right to choose when and how I allow someone into 'my world' and every time that choice is either not provided or taken away from me by default, the balance between privacy, publicity, and secrecy is thrown.

Are you sure you're not drawing both a strawman argument and false dichotomy here with respect to near-field communications? While I can't speak with authority on how it'll be implemented, what makes you think that the use of NFC will be without your explicit consent? How is this any different than one taking out a credit card and swiping it at a machine?

Regarding WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS... these options aren't default on my Nexus One. I control when I want to use these features. Barring the cases of strange backdoors and apps secretly grabbing your data, I'm not sure what the issue here is.

> While I can't speak with authority on how it'll be implemented, what makes you think that the use of NFC will be without your explicit consent?

It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I am not singling Google out here, and there most definitely is no strawman argument being made. One need only look at the 'opt-out' world that we live in to see that our privacy is often trumped by what someone else believes will be in our best interest. W/R/T NFC, I liken it to the idea of having a phone number. Yes, I have a phone, but no, that doesn't mean that you can call me if you get a hold of my number. Imagine if you got a phone call from an ice cream store every time you walked by it on a warm day..."Hey man, it's hot outside, c'mon in for some ice cream!".

Those of us who control options such as WiFi/BT/GPS on our phones, we're in the minority. The vast majority of people can't be bothered with toggling these features on and off and don't understand the reasons for doing so.

Wow. My battery-powered cellular telephone, requiring a 2-year contract can replace a piece of plastic with a magnetic strip?

What is next? My automobile can be used to replace credit cards, as well.

I can speed past the Starbuck's window and the barista can simply throw the coffee at me as I drive by.

Sure, if starbucks took EZ Pass

EZ Pass CEO: "EZ Pass could replace credit cards."

US Mint CEO: "money could replace credit cards."

Oh wait ...

To be considered 'money', it must be a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange.

Credit cards are not a unit of account, nor are cellular telephones, nor is the Android OS.

Credit cards are not a store of value. Cellular telephones may be. I have seen old brick phones on eBay sell for a premium in mint condition.

Oh wait...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_of_exchange

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Store_of_value

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_account

The magnetic strips are increasingly a relic of the past. My CCs have both a chip, and a near-field PayPass system-

http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/aboutourcards/paypa...

I know...I cloned them last week.

Since the details on his "credit card replacement" were sparse, what caught my eye as more disturbing was:

>Addressing "creepy comments": Schmidt laughed off questions about recent comments he made about Google "knowing where you live and what you do." His take: "In the new world, you have to label jokes."

I'd like to be laughing about that, but just can't quite.

I find it remarkable that they still let Schmidt talk on public after he's demonstrated a complete inability to keep sarcastic comments to himself

Along those lines; TFA: "There's a creepy line we don't want to cross," Schmidt said. "For example, we could track people in real time, or use face recognition -- but we won't."

... presumably, because that would be 'evil' and we can trust that they won't do that?

I would use my phone as a 'credit card', but only if I have to manually tell it to broadcast the signal for that. If it does it all the time, I'd just turn that off, or never set it up in the first place.

My guess is that there will be a dedicated app for this. You start the app which then broadcast your credit card info to the reader.

The hard part of replacing credit cards is not the magnetic strip. It is the ability to issue credit limits and charge interest effectively without losing all your money. That is the real challenge to make this work.

Steve Jobs would have said: "Android update will replace credit cards". And that's the difference between Google and Apple today.

Isn't this already common in Japan?

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