@nico198X @aral @robin Problem with #PayPal et. al. is that there ain't real & global competitiors.

• AFAIK, #SEPA-bound #wero won't allow people to setup accounts outside #EU / #EFTA / #SEPA area and get them at least topped-up (unlike PayPal, #VISA & #MasterCard, which literally offer #Prepaid cards aroubd the globe except North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and #WesternSahara / #SADR)…

And not only is it impractical for people to travel in person to i.e. Germany just to wait weeks (!!!) on an appointment and get a bank accout opened in person but even then the Bsic Account as per @BaFin regulations only applies to consumers in Germany and not SMEs from overseas and even then those business accounts are usually way more expensive than partnering with an expensive payment processor to outsorce headaches.

• Ask me how I know...

Needless to say the #PayPalMafia got their power to basically monopolize global payments...

@Rusty @dragonarchitect I disagree re: webOS and FirefoxOS.

#webOS failed due to lack of market penetration (there was only like 1 Tablet from #hp) and #FirefoxOS failed because @mozillaofficial didn't even offer to sell devices to folks like me and @fuchsiii that wanted one.

• The only devices with #Firefox OS in the #EU were a few #NetLock'd #prepaid phones that got sold in Spain (reqiring ID for no valid reason!) and which were essentially useless for anyone outside of Spain.

Add to that the absurdity that #Mozilla basically expected carriers (!!) to maintain and provide the #AppStore|s themselves and you get market fracturing worse than the "P.R." #China (!!!)…

It was mismanaged and self-sabotaged in the worst possible way.

• Similar to how #OLPC never sold the #XO1 in retail and didn't even offer the "Give one, Get one" deal in most places...

The #Duopoly of #Android & #iOS wasn't unavoidable, but an outcome of #SelfSabotage and halfassed non-commitment by competitors!

@quasigod there's a reason #SimLock and #NetLock died in #Europe over a decade ago.

• People don't like getting shafted - espechally on expensive devices.

That being said even #Prepaid providers don't lock their devices anymore but instead they just sell people devices at cost with a tiny margin and make their €€€ longterm bunding a free #SIM with every purchase.

• But yeah, #US #Telco|s are shit!

@usaryan1 @jon +9001%

#RIP #FirefoxOS, cuz @mozillaofficial refusing to sell #develooers devices made it a stillborn!

• Seriously, the only Firefox OS phone in the #EU was some spanish #NetLock'd & #SimLock'd device that one could only get by ID'ing in-store in #Spain and go through #KYC #SecurityTheater cuz it was sold only in a #Prepaid bundle!

@tauon Also what goid is an encryption like @signalapp is you don't have #SelfCustody of all the keys?

• Shure you could disable encryption but @monocles shows you when it's active and when not and comes with sensible defaults like having #OMEMO active per default...

I can setup over a dozen #TechIlliterates 1:1 with #XMPP accounts and #monoclesChat & @gajim / #gajim in the time it takes me to get a #nonKYC #eSIM from overseas with a phone number as mandated by @signalapp and maintaining that number for #Signal will easily cost like $2,50 p.m. at minimum.

• Whereas a Data-only eSIM is way faster and cheaper to get and maintain.

In fact even legitimately acquiring and registering a #Prepaid #SIM in-store in #Germany takes longer than setting up #Fdroid & monocles chat & a XMPP account whilst on throttled #EDGEland speeds...

• Plus unlike Signal, I can just push #XMPP through @torproject / #Tor and/or any #VPN & #Proxy...

https://possum.city/notes/a3rt4nzbn11z01vi

Yet the same internet provider who got a loan with a very very low interest rate, that it can pay in 10 or 15 years; the internet provider who got all the equipment from Huawei to install FTTH in every building! went went crooked and installed FTTC for everyone!

Later on they removed The FTTC Connections (in a year) and went to FTTH and made the people bloody pay for it!

The source of irritation with many people is that the ISP has the bandwidth Huawei has provided them with all the equipment more than 6 years ago, and they keep upgrading the server park on the regular!

And if you actually dig into the mathematics you see that one gigabit is not even enough for that!

So I should have said 10 GBit symmetrical

4K TV about 28MBit/s * 4 = 112MBit per person 2GBit * 4 = 8GBit

So 10GBit is sufficient

Why do I consider 1 GBit symmetrical a normal speed? You have to be able to drive at least four or four K TVs in your home and still have four people internetting simultaneously without disrupting each other

The second conclusion you will draw is that you will not be able to believe that it's this internet provider, who has these lame rules about their internet gateways, which are obsolete and don't even want to give you a stable internet connection with a normal speed.

What is a normal speed? One GBit up and down symmetrical, that is a normal speed

The first conclusion that you will draw is that internet in my country is extremely expensive, look how much, actually look how **little** data you get and who look how much you have to pay in US dollars
The average amount of money that someone who has the age of pension gets is 1750 SRD {49.84 USD / 48.02 EUR}

These are the exchange rates SRD to USD and EUR to USD

So all the prices in SRD you just have to divide them by the currency that you have

@bojkotiMalbona @energisch_ @mina @Nickiquote If it was my decision, #Germany would not have signed up on #FATCA bs.

• Sadly I'm not in position to #RepealFATCA and restore #privacy as well as outlaw #discrimination.

That being said I've not found any #Bank in Germany that rejects #US #citizens (as basically everyone who is a resident regardless of legal status (i.e. seeking asylum, on tourist visa, permanent resident) or even legal address (i.e. even homeless people can get a bank account) as clients per-se since #Banking is regulated as a #utility and every #ConsumerBank must offer "basic accounts".

• The only problem may be that almost all will #KYC their clients in person and with #cooperative-owned #CreditUnions they'll OFC demand a minimum buy-in of shares (usually around €50-100).

Granted a #BankAccount in Germany is kinda essential and without it one can neither get paid (all employers will wire money using #SEPA, paying wages in #cash isn't even legal in most cases) nor can one make rent, pay utilities and insurance bills (even the most slimy landlords don't want cash!)...

• Same goes for #CashlessPayments: #girocard is the standard supported by every #BankingCard, as #CreditCards are virtually nonexistant (outside of very rich peoples' pockets and business peoples' / freelancers' wallets) due to high fees and banks being extremely stingy to even approve a credit card that isn't a #prepaid one at all...

@Saupreiss @unixtippse @der_mit_ph

ALL DAS sind #Downgrades in sachen #UX!

• Ich kann ja verstehen wenn entsprechende #Ladesäulen autonom und ohne #Personal laufen sollen, aber was hindert die daran wie #Tankautomaten und neuere #Parkscheinautomaten einfach ne #ec-Karte mit NFC & PIN zu akzeptieren?
  

Das gibt's vandalismusgeschützt und robust als Drop-In - Lösung von drölfzig Zahlungsdienstleistern und bedarf weder #Digitalzwang noch #AppZwang, wenn die schon kein #Bargeld akzeptieren wollen!

Bei Kleinbeträgen bis €25 wäre auch #CallPay & #SMSpayment problemlos machbar, was auch mit nem #StupidPhone samt #Prepaid-#SIM geht, ohne Registrierungs-Zwang!

@frumble @mozilla Und ja, alle #WebDevs die ich kenne waren begeistert wo #FirefoxOS vorgestellt wurde weil dann ist #Apps programmieren umso einfacher und ohne Bullshit möglich...

• Doof nur dass weder ich noch @fuchsiii noch sonstwer den ich kannte je ein #Firefox-OS - Gerät kaufen konnten, egal wieviel es gekostet hätte.

Die einzigen FirefoxOS-Geräte in der #EU waren #SimLock'd / #NetLock'd #Prepaid-Handys die nur in Spanien bei Telefonica nur als Bundle mit SIM in Shops verkauft wurden!

@halva @lynn @deilann

Wrong, as you need a #PhoneNumber just to sign up to @signalapp / #Signal and Signal does use that to discriminate against users and restrict functionality.

And since an increasing number of juristictions don't allow anonymous #PhoneNumbers / mandate #KYC even for #Prepaid numbers, that Phone Number is not only explicit #PII but also Signal never had any "legitimate interest" to demand one, nor is it "technically necessary" in any shape or form (unlike if they still offered #TextSecure to encrypt #SMS and used said phone numbers to update, authenticate and exchange Public Keys)...

You want to have anonymous prepaid SIM cards because you want to prank people.

I want anonymous prepaid SIM cards because KYC is the illicit activity on something where fraud at the expense of the telco is impossible and because it's cyberfacist bs!

• We are not the same!