I'm dreaming of a cashless Christmas - Telegraph

"f you’re anything like me, this was the day you finally realised it was time to start shopping for presents. Of course, if there’s one day you don’t want to be stuck in a queue at the cashpoint, it’s Christmas Eve. So how much money should you take with you while you brave the high street?

A couple of years ago, a Harvard professor called Greg Mankiw worked out that the ideal amount to have in one’s wallet at any time was $600 (£375), on the basis that time spent topping up at the cash machine is time wasted, and that you’re far less likely to be mugged or lose your wallet than you think. But I’ve got a different answer: absolutely nothing."

I don’t mean, of course, that we don’t need any money. But Mankiw’s findings are already out of date – because cash is inexorably becoming redundant. Last week, the Payments Council caused howls of outrage when it announced that come 2018, the cheque will be sent to the great till in the sky. But it won’t be long before notes and coins follow suit.
This is a bold statement to make: currency has been an integral part of our world, in one way or another, since 3,000BC. But the simple fact is that we can survive without it. In fact, abolishing notes and coins could make the world and its economies far less dysfunctional.
To understand why, let’s go back to first principles. Money has two main purposes: to be a medium of exchange (helping us swap things of value) and a unit of account (a yardstick against which things can be priced). The textbooks also say it should be a store of value, although anyone who has experienced inflation will realise it hardly fulfils that role these days.
But while pounds and pence will survive, notes and coins are no longer all that relevant. Cash transactions account for only 4 per cent of overall money use: next year, for the first time, we will spend more using our debit cards than with cash. ...more

Vatican Gives Blessing to ‘The Simpsons’

"Despite the many, many, many times that “The Simpsons,” above, has mocked or satirized religion, that long-running animated series has earned an endorsement from the official Vatican newspaper on the occasion of the show’s 20th anniversary, The Associated Press reported. In an article published on Tuesday in L’Osservatore Romano under the headline “Aristotle’s Virtues and Homer’s Doughnut,” “The Simpsons” was praised for its “realistic and intelligent writing” (and rapped on the knuckles for “excessively crude language, the violence of certain episodes or some extreme choices by the scriptwriters”). Noting plots in which Homer Simpson has variously renounced his faith and mispronounced the name of Jesus, L’Osservatore Romano wrote that Homer nonetheless “finds in God his last refuge” and that the character’s attitudes toward religion were “a mirror of the indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith."...source

Paper Cheques In Britain Are Set To Be Phased Out

"Paper cheques in Britain are set to be phased out by 2018 as the nation moves towards an increasingly cashless society.

The UK Payments Council has said that there will be a gradual move towards contactless smart cards and electronic payment systems, which will see the end of the paper cheque by October 31st 2018.

'There are many more efficient ways of making payments than by paper in the 21st century and the time is ripe for the economy as a whole to reap the benefits of its replacement,' says chief executive Paul Smee.

He goes on to add that the cheque is in long-term decline, with usage dropping by 40 per cent in the past five years alone.

The council has advised that it will be promoting the use of other payment methods, such as smart cards, so that consumers have an alternative to the traditional cheque when it is phased out.

According to BBC News, in three to five years it is expected that the use of cash will have been eradicated to such an extent that the nation will become a cashless society." ...Source

National Irish Bank to stop handling cash

"One of the country's larger banks has told to its customers that it is to stop handling cash in its branches.

National Irish Bank says it is moving to a Scandinavian model of 'cashless banking' - with an increased reliance on ATMs and debit cards.

NIB has told customers that its branches will no longer handle cash withdrawals or lodgements, nightsafe lodgements or foreign exchange cash.

They are instead urging customers to use ATMs or get cash back on their laser cards if they need notes. Branches will continue to accept cheques and postal orders.

The bank says the idea of 'cashless banking' will be rolled out over the next 18 months, and that the model is that used by its Danish parent company.

NIB says Irish dependence on cash is amongst the highest in Europe." ...source

Brain scans could detect future criminals

"Someone makes you a promise that seems too good to be true: they sound persuasive – but if only you could look inside their brain, you would know whether to trust them.

Scientists from universities in Zurich and Konstanz, Germany have uncovered how brains behave in people who make promises they know very well they are going to break.

The researchers, economists and neuroscientists, discovered that although to all outward appearances trustworthy and untrustworthy people behave the same way, the ones who do not keep their word show increased activity in the areas of the brain that play important roles in processes of emotion and control.

More importantly, the research showed that patterns of brain activity make it possible to predict whether a person is likely break a promise.

Applying the results of the research could “in the (distant) future” help prevent fraudulent and criminal intrigues, Zurich University said in a press release."...more
return to rampartproductions.com
 

Biometric database - a security necessity or a first step toward a police state?

'The minute you store biometric information on all citizens of Israel, you've created an explosive situation,' she said. 'Imagine that tomorrow a demonstration over a controversial issue occurs - hardly a rare event in Israel - and the protest is filmed by the ever-growing number of municipal cameras being installed.

'The images could then be cross-referenced with facial recognition software, and authorities could have all of the information on those who took part. This creates troubling questions regarding privacy and the public domain. Would demonstrators still take part if they knew they could be tracked down and harassed later down the line?'...more
return to rampartproductions.com
 

VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Worries Privacy Activists | Threat Level | Wired.com

VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Worries Privacy Activists | Threat Level | Wired.com: "Remember VeriChip, the Florida company that once dreamed of injecting its human-implantable RFID microchips in everyone from immigrant guest workers to prison inmates?

We haven’t heard much from the company since a dipping stock price nearly got it delisted from the NASDAQ in March. But it’s still alive, and in November it pulled off a seemingly incongruous acquisition. Now called PositiveID, the new company is a merger between VeriChip and Steel Vault, the people behind NationalCreditReport.com.

With a human-implantable microchip maker now running a credit-scoring and identity-theft-protection website, privacy activists are worried again. “The attraction to investors is the potential for synergies,” says Mark Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “You have to anticipate over time there will be an attempt to integrate the services.”

“Sci-fi wise, you could have a chip read by a scanner that determines your credit-worthiness,” says Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times. “Or you could have a credit card implant."
return to rampartproductions.com