#“what? isn't the whole site supposed to be free-offer based?”

[dr-lurker]

AU in which stargoth doesn't quarrel over keys and wishes but also doesn't know each other... until Chase, who partecipates as an artist to a project that basically lets people dedicate songs via telephone to their loved ones by choosing a small musician, selecting one of the available songs, leaving the receiver's number in their page site and add a message for the artist to read out before singing the song on the phone if the sender wants to, has to deliver one single song to Nox by calling him.

But Nox hates answering to unknown numers, so he doesn't, and to his contempt the calls just keep going on for days and days, up to the moment he decides to pick up in order to tell whoever the hell it is on the other line off. In the worst way possible. As one does.

Cue some arguing, Chase calling Nox again and again just to sing songs he knows he'll hate with his acoustic guitar, and Nox maybe getting used to the new routine. Perhaps there might even be a proper serenade in the middle of everything.

(The site is not my idea tho, it truly exists. I didn't explain it properly, but it's so well done and the artists are so talented.)

[sportsbetting363]

Sports Web Sites 200+ Best Sports Activities Net Design Concepts 2023

Bettors can wager on soccer matches from throughout Asia and worldwide, together with the English Premier League. Some bookies won’t have a cellular betting app out there, so you'll have to visit the site from your mobile browser and wager from there. That methodology can nonetheless guarantee a solid betting expertise, however there isn't any hiding that betting from a cell app is much simpler and extra convenient.

Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia are simply a variety of the thirteen main champions with a combined 25 major victories represented in LIV Golf’s 12-team, 48-player subject. Football (soccer) is arguably the preferred sport globally in Singapore. It can be convenient for bettors due to the numerous betting alternatives and the great Singapore Pools football betting odds.

We’ve gone forward and calculated the odds prices on the prime betting sites so as to see for yourself where to find the best overall deal. Traditionally, gambling in Singapore has been perceived as a social exercise and is anticipated to proceed within the foreseeable future. Gambling is legal in Singapore but highly regulated by strict legal guidelines intending to take care of regulation and order as properly as mitigate the attainable effects it might have on the society. Other gambling actions are prohibited unless licensed or exempted by law. To be considered a best sports activities betting sites it must be legal and cling to the existing legal guidelines and laws. The final factor to suppose about is the sportsbook reputation in Singapore.

The 1XBet sportsbook operates legitimately through a license from the federal government of Curacao. This sportsbook offers its users a whole lot of sports betting events similar to football, volleyball, handball, golf, basketball, and much more. It was established in 2001 and has since been offering a lot of sports activities betting services to plenty of sports activities betting followers globally. This sportsbook operates legitimately courtesy of a UKGC license, making it a safe and trustworthy bookmaker. In our opinion, we feel as if the first web site in our list presents essentially the most full cricket betting service on the market. This is not to say, however, that the opposite operators featured on this web page aren’t up to scratch.

You ought to attempt esports betting and choose between cash-based or skin-based choices when wagering on esports matches. Singapore has a robust cricket league managed by Singapore Cricket Association. The country sites in ICC World Cricket League Division Three which is among the many greatest cricket leagues in the world. There is an annual conflict between Singapore and Malaysia where gamers can wager on. Most bookies will have a minimal of 20 completely different sports markets, and some would possibly supply 30+.

This will also apply to off-course betting centres for horse racing. The Singapore Pools account betting service is a convenient solution that allows on-line betting. Besides on-line wagering, different features include immediate funds transfers, an affordability calculator, betting exercise trackers, and entry to unique stakes. You should resolve what you intend to guess on and decide a bookie accordingly. Alternatively, when you plan to wager on various leagues and sports activities, you must select any of the bookmakers that are known for a strong offer of markets and odds throughout all sports activities – similar to Betway.

That is as a end result of in-play betting is legal and broadly obtainable on any on-line sportsbook. The commonest bonuses and promotions on Singaporean sportsbooks embrace bonuses on soccer, basketball, cricket, and rugby, a few of the hottest sports in the country. Most rewards will come from free bets, odds increase and reload bonuses, usually positioned underneath the “Promotions” tabs or in your account page.

For our case, we now have selected on-line bookies with a positive reputation available in the market. We have collected information from on-line boards and social media to achieve important details about the highest websites and considered it into the conclusion. If you’re lucky sufficient to have secured a few successful wagers then it may be time to withdraw some money to benefit from the fruits of your labour! You just want to go back to the Cashier section and hit the “Withdraw” button, earlier than entering the quantity and the account you want the money to be paid into.

CryptoManiaks reviewers get in contact with the site’s customer service team, noting how rapidly an agent responds and whether or not they have been helpful. Our group investigates the general standard of customer support on every website we evaluation. Consequently, you must pay particular consideration to the popularity of crash sites with crypto.

The winnings from free spins are handled as a bonus, General Terms and Conditions of Lucky Block apply. You have 14 days to complete the wagering requirements of the 200% bonus. There are a lot of bonuses and promos out there to customers of the Bet365 on-line sports betting Singapore sportsbook, and they are as follows. Our staff has researched the Chinese betting market and found the key info for Chinese bettors. The Netherlands has a protracted custom of betting and has now moved online.

Yet, people dwelling in certainly one of these locations register with crash sites accepting crypto and play despite the ban. Thankfully, top-rated crash web sites with crypto enable users to withdraw substantial sums. This is why few crash websites accepting cryptocurrency allow you to use any coin missing an honest market cap.

Me88 supplies players with everything they could possibly need, including a big selection of top-notch games, an easy-to-use interface, and vital bonuses and incentives. Me88 is a name you can belief due to the support of PAGCOR and BMM in addition to the endorsement of Conor McGregor. Their males's nationwide group is presently listed within the high 20 on the planet in T20 cricket, and so they often compete in One Day and Test International matches. Cricket markets, such as top batters, whole runs, manner of dismissal, and even to win the toss, are available in any respect of our really helpful betting websites. For instance, foreign bookies sometimes offer betting badminton, particularly in relation to main competitions like the Olympics.

And you'll be able to decrease them nonetheless additional by utilizing a high-quality VPN, or much more nameless fee strategies such as cryptocurrencies. Not only has this mixed previous laws and simplified them from a legislative perspective, however it supplies greater protections for susceptible and underage persons in Singapore. These enhanced safeguards are welcome and the new regulation also addresses growing gambling trends.

Our prime foreign bookmakers all offer you a number of methods to make deposits. Once you process a deposit to crash gambling site, you aren't required to uncover private info. When making both local and global transactions, clients can profit from prompt deposit/withdrawal time. Those who look to create an account from an illegal country cannot do so.

These will nearly at all times embrace football, golf, tennis, and so on, and tons of let you wager on horse racing too. The English Premier League is king when it comes to online soccer betting in Singapore,  however La Liga just isn't far behind and the Singapore Premier League additionally has a big following. The Dafabet online sportsbook has a huge load of bonuses and promos available to its usersю Also Users of the Dafabet on-line sportsbook have an opportunity to maximise their deposit within the promo offer.

Bettors nowadays interact in on-line betting from the comfort of their hands, not minding where they're. The 1xBet on-line sportsbook has its customers covered, by providing a well-built and designed mobile application that is obtainable to customers of the Apple ios and Android cell gizmos or units. Bettors can entry an enormous number of sports activities betting events, impressive odds, markets, and much extra. Sports betting apps are legal in the majority of countries where online sports activities betting is authorized. Ultimately this depends on the country’s gambling legal guidelines and whether sports betting is legal. For instance, in the United Kingdom, both are completely authorized and bettors have a huge selection of sportsbook apps to select from.

It is very secured, and this is amongst the components we, in addition to all bettors select this technique as superb. Our team of experts have discovered the best sites in Singapore that tend to not only the model new players but additionally the existing clients. This is to keep up a competitive benefit and guarantee prospects are satisfied. Some notable bonus options for current gamers embrace VIP packages or free withdrawals in some bookies. You may also find benefits within the choices at international betting websites.

When looking for the highest sports activities betting apps, you should examine the benefit of use, responsiveness, and ease of navigating to place a guess. Customer reviews also play an important function in understanding a sports activities betting app. Yes, on-line betting bookies in Singapore offer a stay betting choice the place you can watch and bet live sports either from the app or website. Read and perceive in-play betting in Singapore before registering an account to play with real money. Yes, PayPal has gained important dominance in the betting sector and at present, there are several on-line bookies that settle for betting utilizing PayPal.

These websites are well regulated, have all of the functionality, and price trying out. All bookmakers have encryption methods, that defend your personal particulars or monetary knowledge. Based on the factors we supplied, you can select your favourite gambling associate and wager your way to the banks. Yes, playing is legal in Singapore however highly regulated by strict laws to take care of regulation and order in addition to mitigate the attainable results it may need on the society.

Punters ought to all the time know where they are in a betting site and have easy access to where they like to move to. It should also be participating and hold your consideration via every web page. The websites we suggest have encryption systems that use sturdy encryption to forestall access by hackers or knowledge leaks. All of the sites have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), encryption software that secures all transactions made between the playing company and the player.

The list of sportsbooks for Spanish bettors to select from is large and, in addition to local operators, most of the biggest worldwide sportsbook are licensed to offer online betting here too. Before the Remote Gambling Act there was no statement in Singapore’s regulation which particularly stated that it was unlawful for residents to guess on sports activities events at offshore on-line sportsbooks. This means many Singaporeans have accounts with offshore on-line sportsbooks similar to Bet365, William Hill, and Ladbrokes. Although illegal to use, it’s not uncommon for international sportsbooks to accept new customers from Singapore.

Your satisfaction and safety are the thing that drives the making of such reviews. In order to assure your security, we have listed some of the web sites that we deem unsafe and quite dangerous. The design must be straightforward to navigate with the menu gadgets simply accessible from any page.

You can examine these rugby betting websites for opportunity to guess on regional and international tournaments. Around 88% p.c of Singaporeans own a smartphone, which equates to roughly 4.8 million people. So it’s safe to say that almost all of punters in Singapore will also be users of cellular devices and keen to experience betting websites on-line through their phones or tablets.

Historically, playing in Singapore dates back to the 1800s when Singapore was beneath the British. During the time, “gaming farms” were used as a battlefield for cockfighting till the activity was prohibited in 1856. Fast ahead to 1923; playing was legalised for three years before being illegalised in 1926. Later in 1968, Singapore Pools state lottery games were inaugurated.

Once you determine to get involved in Crash playing, step one entails selecting the scale of the play you wish to make. Apart from doing your individual analysis, learn our critiques to see when you can trust the sites you’re interested in using. Sites that provide a relentless stream of promotions are sometimes responsible of diluting the standard. Such a program routinely rewards people who spend a lot of money on a crash web site. Alas, it's too good to be true because of the most important restrictions included. Especially if the site gives you a bonus worth the same as your first deposit.

At the same time, we ensure all websites have quality data encryption techniques that is inaccessable by third parties. The payout price varies from bookmaker to bookmaker, and as a player, you need to select one that is best fitted to you. Similarly, the payout price will be completely different for each sport and may fluctuate once in a while. The presented payout charges are for basic guidance so you need to examine bookmakers’ odds before registering with the positioning or putting a wager. Because of their offshore nature, many sportsbooks accepting Singaporean gamers won’t actually allow you to use SGD.

The official playing legal guidelines date again to its time under British rule and though they’ve been modified, all other types of playing are officially unlawful. Sports fans can take pleasure in a variety of sports events in Bahrain, together with Formula One racing, however, they aren't able to legally wager real money on any of those occasions. Article 308 of the Bahrain Penal Code states that Bahrainis who gamble in public face a fine of up to BD a hundred ($265 US approx.) or a most three-month prison time period. There are a plenty of Australian-based betting corporations licensed to operate retail shops and also accept online sports activities bets. Moreover, many of the largest international sportsbooks are additionally licensed to function down beneath. According to The Straits Times, Singapore Pools mentioned on Wednesday (25 Mar) that all Livewire venues for reside sports betting can be shut indefinitely.

Here we now have supplied one of the best online betting sites in Singapore by category. Nowadays there's a huge quantity of selection when it comes to on-line betting markets, with most sites providing no less than 25 completely different sports to wager on and some even surpassing the 30 mark. Rather than matching your initial deposit, typically sports activities betting websites will give you a free guess as an alternative. Generally speaking, depositing a specific amount shall be enough to qualify but there are events when you will need to place a guess too earlier than you'll find a way to obtain your reward. However, an enormous advantage is that not like match bonuses it’s extra common to have the power to maintain the winnings from the free guess with none further betting requirements.

Crash sites with crypto unable to provide flexibility regarding payment strategies will trigger frustration, no matter its options. These days, crypto crash websites blow their old school counterparts out of the water in phrases of promotions. Unfortunately, certain Bitcoin crash sites fail to offer the value provided by a high-quality VIP program. So, when you deposit $200, your money is trapped within the account till you play with the equivalent of $6,000.

For that matter, it is necessary to have a extensive range of sporting events in order that when one event just isn't out there, you have another option from the completely different sports activities betting websites in Singapore. When it involves identifying the best on-line sports activities betting in Singapore, it’s really essential to judge them by a set of criteria that covers all the things that matter to punters. ” we're going to look at a few of the most important considerations when selecting an online sports betting in Singapore site. BK8 has become one of many largest online betting websites in Singapore, and at first look it’s easy to see why as their website format is certainly one of the most eye-catching we now have come throughout. Although the native NBL isn't widely available on betting platforms, the NBA and EuroLeague are.

Another interesting reality about Singaporean betting legal guidelines is that expats can bet on any on-line bookie they want with out fearing repercussions. Lastly, bonuses and promotions are a superb method to get more worth from your betting. Since then, it has grown to turn into one of the well-liked, most widely-viewed cricket spectacles on the planet, with a large number of competitions being performed at both the international and home degree. In an effort to reinforce tourism, the two casinos in Marina South and Sentosa have been opened in 2010. In 2016, Singapore Pools have been granted an exception under the Remote Gambling Act 2014. This gave start to the net and telephone betting for lotteries, football, and motor racing.

If you might have any questions about betting on cricket, or anything contained on this website, please be happy to e mail at As briefly expressed above, the playing surface and the weather can make all the distinction to the method in which by which the game is played. Bowlers, in particular, choose to play on surfaces that assist their sure type of bowling. The gambling-related laws in Singapore include the Betting Act, the Common Gaming Houses Act, the Private Lotteries Act, and the Casino Control Act.

It is essential to notice that not all websites could have the listed options. However, missing a feature or two does not imply the web site is essentially unhealthy. Diverse cost strategies availability is an important yet usually missed characteristic amongst bettors. As a gambler, you must check on the obtainable deposit and cost choices to avoid frustrations or lengthy delays once you make a win. To be thought of as a best sports activities betting web site in Singapore, it must have completely different fee options starting from e-wallet, debit playing cards, to PayPal betting sites and the rising cryptocurrency.

Even worse, if you’re an everyday winner, typical crash gambling sites will limit your wagers or ban you completely. In our expertise, most individuals who play with BTC on crash gambling websites have no actual curiosity in returning to fiat web sites. Cloudbet is a sports-focused playing website that additionally offers on line casino games. With sports activities betting, you'll have specialists sharing lots of their opinions in regards to the subsequent transfer and selection. While it's okay to hearken to their recommendations and examine yourself, you shouldn’t blindly observe their selections. Instead, make your individual choices and put your bets primarily based on the information that you've.

Given the restrictive nature of a welcome bonus, it is much less relevant than the VIP program and promotions offered by a site. It is too straightforward to get lured into pondering you’re getting the higher end of the deal. Certain crash sites accepting BTC even settle for a handful of digital currencies.

In case you need to choose any of them to open an account with, however still unsure which one to settle on, don’t fear. But, you can read more to grasp what works greatest for you and choose your favourite betting site. There are loads of worldwide betting sites who’ll be pleased to just accept your wagers although. The chances of you getting caught utilizing certainly one of these bookies is tiny. Singapore Pools is the only legal recreation in town when it comes to placing an online bet in Singapore and anyone caught breaking the principles could face a fine, or even a prison sentence. However, the truth is that the online gambling legislation in Singapore is essentially unenforceable because the possibilities of getting caught in your own home are next to none.

The Singaporean betting scene is dominated by Singapore Pools, which offer restricted wagering options and poor odds, creating excellent circumstances for foreign bookies to enter the market. As a result, the Singaporean betting scene features many international bookies, that are generally far more interesting to Singaporean bettors, who seek better presents and higher odds. The very first thing to remember with cricket, very comparable to for many different sports, is that you should have a firm grasp of the principles and the format of the game before you'll have the ability to start placing wagers with conviction.

To properly analyze bonuses, we now have created three separate subsections. You likely have a few necessary issues when choosing the right crash website accepting crypto in your wants. You may obtain extra freedom in relation to being restricted for successful when you play. If they find out the place you reside, take your funds and close your account, you’ll have to accept it. When the cryptocurrency market was growing, most people knew about Bitcoin and nothing else.

[senzasord]

Tumblr isn't bad at being a social media site, it's bad at being TikTok.

I don't usually add directly onto posts, but the 'hot take' above the most recent addition gave me the shits.

There's a couple of things I agree with - tumblr may be dying (although I don't agree with the doom and gloom that person was piling on. Props to the person below them yanking the steering wheel back), and tumblr is not the kind of social media that is currently popular i.e. algorithm driven etc.

BUT that's because it wasn't supposed to be that kind of site. It was explicitly a microblogging site.

And I will admit that some of the tension with this site has been it moving to straddle the line between its origin as a blog site and the current trends of social media. I honestly think that's part of the reason why previous owners have failed to do anything with it - because they tried to take it in the direction of facebook and tiktok, and it didn't work because that's not what the site was built for, and if users wanted that kind of experience they wouldn't be using tumblr. Comparing it to facebook, tiktok, instagram isn't of any use here. We should be looking at places like DeviantArt, Wordpress etc. and how they've managed the shift to Web 2.0.

Speaking of Wordpress, guess who owns them? Automattic, the new(ish - 2019) owners of tumblr. I find the interpretation of the ad-free option as 'desperate' quite odd, when it's a valid and well-established alternative to supporting a site by advertisement. I don't think it's a coincidence that Automattic were the ones to bring in this option, when it's an option that is also provided on Wordpress. I'm not saying I think Automattic are the bees knees - but I am saying that, since the sale to Yahoo!, they've been the first owners to offer an alternative to advertisement. Yes, if you're using tiktok and facebook, you are the product. That's the point of those websites. But tumblr did not start that way, and there hasn't been a whole lot of success in shifting it to that model, as everyone is aware.

A different reblog chain to this post talked about how, with introducing this option, Automattic are treating tumblr users as the client rather than the product. I think it's important to take note of this. I'll repeat the point that previous owners have not really provided a way for users to support the website; I don't know for certain why, but I'm going to hazard a guess and say it's because they weren't trying to court the users, they were trying to court advertisers. And we still do have ads, but we now also have this.

And so I think we have a choice (not an individual choice - don't pay for things you can't afford obviously. But a choice as a user base) - we can either take the path of Doomer up there and see this as the last attempt to fund a dying website. Or we can see it as a company test-running a different business approach because they believe that it could maybe be successful. And I think whichever view we take as a user-base is probably going to be the sticking point as to whether this works or not. "Tumblr is not, and will never be, profitable" is likely true in the advertiser-algorithm based model. But there's more than one model. The ship may be going down - we're not sure yet. But don't say it is just because it wasn't very good in a jetski race.

Tl;dr - there is more than one kind of social media, and more than one kind of social media business model. Tumblr is not tiktok, and its demise in one business model does not preclude its success in another. Changing business models is not necessarily a sign of desperation, it may just be recognition that a different one might work better. If you want a jetski, get off the boat.

This is 100% new and 100% Tumblr with 0% ads.

If you love ads, then this post is not for you. If you love Tumblr but hate ads and want the one to continue without having to endure the other, then this post is literally for you. Hello, you.

As of today, you can set up ad-free browsing on your personal desktop computer, from anywhere in the world, and then enjoy the same effervescent Tumblr you know and love (yes, including mobile) without the interruption of ads. Scroll away.

Some caveats:

It’s $4.99 for a month of pure, unadulterated nonsense.

If you like a discount, you can get 33% off (that’s four months for free) at $39.99 for a whole year. Imagine.

This is opt-in. You don’t have to do this. We won’t make you.

How do you opt in?

Easy! Just go to your Account Settings on desktop and hit “Go Ad-Free.” From there, you can choose to pay monthly or yearly:

And that’s it! You’ll be able to enjoy your favorite blogs and posts without any pesky ads getting in the way.

That’s all for now, Tumblr. Back to your blorbos.

[neptunecreek]

Exposing Your Face Isn't More Hygienic Way to Pay

A company called PopID has created an identity-management system that uses face recognition. Their first use case is as a system for in-store, point of sale payments using face recognition as authorization for payment.

They are promoting it as a tool for restaurants, claiming that it is pandemic-friendly because it is contactless.

Nonetheless, the PopID payment system is less secure than alternatives, unfriendly to privacy, and is likely riskier than other payment alternatives for anyone concerned about catching COVID-19. On top of these issues, PopID is pitching it as a screening tool for COVID-19 infection, another task that it's completely unsuited for.

Equities issues

It's important that payment systems not disadvantage cash payments, which have the best social equity. Many people are under-banked and in hard times such as these, many people use cash as a way to help them manage their budgets and spending. Cash is also the most privacy-friendly way to pay. As convenient as other systems are, and despite cash not being contactless, we need to protect people's ability to use cash1.

PopID is a charge-up-and-spend system. To lower their costs, PopID has its users charge up an account wn ith them using a credit card or debit card, and payments are deducted from that. Charge-and-spend systems are good for the store, and less good for the person using them; they amount to an interest-free loan that the consumer gives the merchant. This is no small thing: Starbucks, PayPal, and Walmart all have billions in interest-free loans from their customers. This further disadvantages people with budgets, as it requires them to give PopID money before it is spent and keep a balance in their system in anticipation of spending it.

PopID also requires their customers to have a smartphone for enrollment-by-selfie, which disadvantages those who don't have one.

To be fair, these issues are largely fixable. PopID could allow someone to enroll without a phone at any payment station. They could allow charge-up with cash, and they could allow direct charge2. But for now, the company does not offer these easy solutions.

Fitness to task

Looking beyond its potentially fixable perpetuation of systematic inequalities, it's important that a system actually do what it's intended to do. PopID is pitching it as a pandemic-friendly system, providing both contactless payments and as a COVID-19 screening device, using the camera as a temperature sensor. Neither of these is a good idea.

Temperature scanning with commodity cameras won't work

PopID promotes their system as a temperature scanning device for employees and customers alike. Temperature screening itself has limited benefit, as around half the people who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic.

Moreover, accurate temperature screening is expensive and hard. PopID is not the only organization to promote cheap face recognition with COVID-19 screening as the excuse. In reality, the cheap camera in a point-of-sale terminal is both inaccurate and intrusive as Jay Stanley of the ACLU describes in detail.

There's a wide range in the accuracy of temperature-scanning cameras, in normal human body temperature across a population, and even an individual's temperature based on time of day and their physical activities. Even the best cameras are finicky, not working accurately if people are wearing hats, glasses, or masks, and require the camera to view only one subject at a time.

Speeding up a sandwich shop line does help prevent COVID-19, because we know that spending too much time too close to other people is the primary mode of transmission. But, temperature scanning along with payment doesn't help people space themselves out or have shorter contact.

Face recognition raises COVID-19 risks

PopID pitches their system as good during the pandemic because it is contactless. Yet it is worse than payment alternatives.

PopID's web site shows a picture of a payment terminal, with options to use contactless payment systems such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Presumably, any contactless credit card could be used. Additionally, a barcode system like the one Starbucks uses is contactless.

PopID's point of sale terminal

Any of these contactless payment alternatives are much better than PopID from a public health standpoint because they don't require someone to remove their mask. The LA Times article comments parenthetically, "(The software struggles at recognizing faces with masks.)"

Indeed, any contactless payment system has less contact than using cash, yet even cash is low-risk. Almost all COVID-19 transmission is through breathing in virus particles in droplets or aerosols, not from fomites that we touch. Moreover, cash is easy to wash in soapy water.

This is a big deal for a supposedly pandemic-friendly system. The most recent restaurant-based superspreading event in the news is particularly relevant. A person in South Korea sat for two hours in a coffee shop under the air conditioning, and spread the disease to twenty-seven other people, who in turn spread it to twenty-nine other people, for a total of fifty-six people. And yet, none of the mask-wearing employees got the virus.

This is particularly relevant to PopID; a contactless system that makes someone take off a mask endangers the other customers. Ironically, if a customer sees a store using PopID, they better be wearing a mask because PopID is requiring them to come off momentarily. Or they could just shop somewhere else.

Security

PopID brings in new security risks that do not exist in other systems. They have the user's payment information (for charging up the payment store), their phone number (it's part of registration), name, and of course the selfie that's used for face recognition. There's no reason to suppose they're any worse than the cloud services that inevitably lose people information, but no reason to think they're better. Thus, we should assume that eventually a hacker's going to get all that information.

However, being a payment system, there is the obvious additional risk of fraud. PopID says, "Your Face now becomes your singular, ultra-secure 'digital token' across all PopID transactions and devices," yet that can't possibly be so.

Face recognition systems are well-known to be inaccurate as NIST recently showed, particularly with Black, Indigenous, Asian and other People of Color, women, and also Trans or nonbinary people. False positives are common and in a payment system, a false positive means a false charge. PopID says they will confirm any match through the verification process of asking someone their name. To be fair, this is not a bad secondary check but is hardly "ultra-secure." Moreover, it requires every PopID customer to tell the whole store their name (or use a PopID pseudonym).

Lastly, PopID doesn't say how they'll permit someone to dispute charges, an important factor since the credit card industry is regulated with excellent consumer protection. In the event of fraud, it's much easier to be issued a new credit card than a new face.

The end result is that PopID's pay-by-face is less secure than using a contactless card, and less secure than cash.

Privacy

PopID is an incipient privacy nightmare. The obvious privacy issues of an unregulated payment system that knows where your face has been is only the start of the problem. The LA Times writes:

But [CEO of PopID, John] Miller’s vision for a face-based network goes beyond paying for lunch or checking in to work. After users register for the service, he wants to build a world where they can “use it for everything: at work in the morning to unlock the door, at a restaurant to pay for tacos, then use it to sign in at the gym, for your ticket at the Lakers game that night, and even use it to authenticate your age to buy beers after.”

“You can imagine lots of things that you can do when you have a big database of faces that people trust,” Miller said.

Nothing more needs to be said. PopID as a payment system is a stalking horse for a face-surveillance panopticon and salable database of trusted faces.

Conclusion

PopID is less secure and less private than alternative forms of payment, contactless or not. It brings with it a lot of social equity issues that negatively impact marginalized communities. Moreover, any store using PopID and thus requiring other people to remove their masks to pay is exposing you to COVID-19 that you would not otherwise be exposed to.

Most alarmingly, it is also an insecure for-profit surveillance system building a database of you, your face, your purchases, your movements, and your habits.

This is a complex issue in that we all intuitively think of money as dirty, and in pandemic times, this is even more on everyone's mind. However, the evidence at this writing (September, 2020) is that exposure through touch is possible but not common, while transmission through breath is the way almost all transmission occurs. ↩︎

Yes, these potential fixes are in tension with each other. If someone using the system wants to be cash-only, they're going to have to have a pre-paid balance in the system. In the other direction, direct-charge system has higher costs to PopID, but that's their business issue, and not the customer's. ↩︎

from Deeplinks https://ift.tt/35XLRNC