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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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Fuck. That. No website is worth that.
Ppl say this with such conviction but what about your bank website? What if it becomes industry standard and you have no other options? Just going to keep all your money in cash?
I have a hard time believing all banks, including local credit unions, will simultaneously adopt this tech. And if they all do, maybe will I have to consider cash after all. But in the meantime, I'll switch to a banking solution that doesn't.
Fair enough. But I wasn't picturing them simultaneously doing it.
Enshittification is a contagious disease that spreads slowly.
Right, so I'll bank with the ones that aren't doing this bullshit. If they want my money they won't do it, simple as.
It starts with them making things much cheaper if you give them your data. Little do Americans know their full data set could be worth tens of thousands of dollars. That may be a lot to the average citizen but for corps and government, it's pennies to them.
I changed banks when they asked for 2FA.
Why?
I refuse to have a phone line. I only get one for a month when I'm looking for a job. Got tired of paying a subscription fee just to get spam calls. All my communication is done through messaging apps and the only time I don't have access to wifi is when I'm driving.
And because SMS 2FA is actually opening a common attack vector. I have yet to find a credit union I qualify for that uses TOTP or Yibikey.
That still requires getting personal information about the user, which is often enough without 2FA. 2FA still makes it more secure than not having it. It's still a vulnerable step though, so users should be aware of that.
Start talking to someone at the credit Union. They are run by people, you might be able to convince them the risk and implement a safer method
Just a heads up, you can get a free phone number from Google, and probably other providers. If you've got a computer of some kind and an internet connection, you can make calls and texts from there. If that's all you're getting a phone for, don't bother with the actual device.
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/115061?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
I don't know about Google's "free" numbers, but third-party VOIP numbers are usually blocked for 2FA verification. I've tried that. Most places won't accept it, because they know you're trying to get around the tracking. The 2FA isn't the point, and the cost of the phone isn't the point, the tracking is the point, and Google's "free" numbers are absolutely tracking you just as effectively as any telecom is.
I use SMS Pool
Yeah, it isn't good for 2FA, and obviously your data is being collected. If all you need it for is job applications though, it does that.
Google Voice user for 15 years and I've had about 3 instances where my number wasn't usable for 2FA, mostly because, to your point, by the time companies that care about security learned about voip #s they realized they are mostly used legitimately and sms was insecure anyway. Luckily I found a great FOSS auth app, which I prefer to sms anyway; especially if traveling I don't have to depend on a mobile connection to be able to complete 2FA.
As another og Google voice user, i've noticed that a lot of services that let me sign up with Google Voice 15 years ago don't let you do it anymore. Now they detect that it's a VoIP number.
Probably SMS or in-app 2FA. That's what annoys me about banks: they claim to do things for security -- which in their case it makes sense because they don't need to harvest data to make money -- but then go ahead and roll their own instead of using standards.
In Sweden the banks offer a choice between an app and a hardware token. You can just go with the token then.
I'll drive to the fucking bank if I need them.
Sometimes it feels like people forget this used to be the only option. Was it a little annoying? Yeah. But oh well.
Ironically I remember reading somewhere that part of the reason people are so consistently shitty to each other is they forgot how to deal with the millions of little face to face interactions we had pre-internet in order to get things done in life. How ironic would it be if big tech forced us back into that mold and we all became a bit nicer because of it?
I long for the future you describe ;_;
French banks don't have that kind of external captcha. They are paranoid about it for good reasons. Also fuck Google, they are not worth it.
I have never seen a captcha (much less a third-party service one) on my bank website. And the day I do is the day I walk into a branch and demand all my accounts be closed on the spot so I can take my business somewhere else. I understand the fear, but if the fear comes true, then this is a hill worth dying on. Be prepared to fight. We have to fight.
My previous bank was messing me around and making things awkward for me, so I rang them up and told them they needed to fix it to go back to the way I wanted, or I was taking our current account and savings accounts elsewhere. They just told me they couldn't by policy. I made a complaint. They said they couldn't by policy.
I did my research over the next couple of weeks and then I walked into a branch and asked for a printout of all my direct debits and standing orders. The teller did as I asked. That evening I got a phone call apologising and offering me exactly what I asked for.
No. Fuck you. You didn't listen, you didn't believe me, you just shat on me for as long as you thought it didn't affect you, and then as soon as you saw I evidence I was serious now you want to fix it? No. Fuck off. Good riddance. I got myself a new bank thank you very much, where I got to choose how it worked.
The time to keep me was when I asked nicely or when I asked nicely again or when I complained. Once I've put time in researching other options, it's way too late.
What is the significance of the print-out of direct debits and standing orders?
Before the EU legislated that banks should all make it easy to automatically transfer all bill payments etc over to a new current account, you would need to set these up yourself on your new account. There's only one reason really that you would ask for all of that information, and the bank knew I was taking physical action to leave them.
I deleted my banking app off my phone because it asked me for a selfie lol. I will absolutely switch banks over this.
Yep. Me too.
Prepaid debit cards exist. Load money at any convenience store. You can even get a routing number/account number for it so you can direct deposit to it. You call a number to check your balance or lock your card.
There's no such thing on the internet. Most lemmy instances with a captcha use hcaptcha or similar since its cheaper (free, in fact), as an example.
What about investments?
Loading prepaid debit cards at gas stations sounds like a rough life. I'd like to think that I'd have more conviction for privacy if it came to that, but everyone has their line I guess.
Doesn't affect 90+% of people, and the remaining population frankly doesn't deserve privacy since they don't have anything to complain about.
Genuinely not bad unless you're a complete shut-in. It's also how the bottom 20% of Americans deal with online bill pay and interact financially with the digital world.
If you're living under capitalism and not investing in any way, that's not really some noble act, it's you voluntarily staying broke and dependent on others in the future.
Should at least have some form of retirement fund going so you don't have to leech off the taxes paid by the young when you're old.
I'll let you know when I magically have spare money in the worst global economy since the great depression.
No one checks their 401k often. Most people don't consider that investment given its a scam they likely won't ever cash in.
USA people don’t have a state pension?
Depends on the job. Some state employees get pensions, yes. Private employers usually do not provide pensions. The majority of people are going to get Social Security after they reach a certain age, but only if they've worked for a certain number of years. And Social Security can be as little as $1200/month. (It was never intended to be someone's sole income in retirement, just a supplement.)
You get social security if that's what you mean, but chances are the boomers will drain it all before my generation gets a whiff at it. And it's ass anyway.
There's some pretty obvious middle ground before making a deposit to the First National Bank of My Mattress. You could find a different bank that doesn't use those captchas, or even do all your banking in person.
I just got a letter regarding my FED tax return. They won't send me a paper check due to an executive order signed by orange hitler. I absolutely do not want the federal government to have access to my bank data considering all the other rights violated along with the constitution. I now have to open a new checking account with $50 so I can get my shitty $50 refund without trump having access to my main account. (What's to keep them from labeling me a terrorist and freezing my accounts? Gonna make that shit as hard as possible.)
bank acct or not, I'm sure they can freeze assets using your SSN if they really want to
...yes? Some of us are really hardline about stuff. I appreciate the convenience of my bank, but I have learned that if you have loyalty of an outside company, business, etc, you are their bitch. Now me, I don't mind being a bitch, but it's for select people. Companies can lick on my balls and suck the dick. I almost closed a credit card with several-thousand dollars in credit because they wanted to verify my person. That was a potential fraud situation though, so after a couple days I decided that is a mutual benefit to keep the card and proceed with the verification.
But this shit? Nah. I've closed other accounts (some financial), for lesser reasoning, in the past.
Banking works just fine without apps and websites. They mail you a statement every month. You have a local branch for deposits and withdrawals. They give you a plastic card you can use to make purchases and withdraw from ATMs.
Fair question, so I'll pop another one, what about a banking app?
I don't think I've ever been with a Dutch bank (or any critical/government service actually) that used captchas.
Some of the smaller online-only banks did start using those weird face videos with the colours for verification though.
I will probably first switch banks. Maybe ask EU for anti monopoly?