Why a Cashless Society Should Scare You

Author: Holly Richmond

Date: July 28, 2016

Link: https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/why-cashless-society-should-scare-you

First Impressions: From the title itself, the essay probably discusses why we are not yet ready for a cashless society, and the factors that we should consider before going cashless.

Quote: “[T]he cashless society offers the government entirely new forms of coercion, surveillance, and censorship.”

Reflection:

Being monitored by your bank through recent purchases in your bank account is something that I would not like happening to me. Although it would be convenient and much more efficient since I would not have to reach for my wallet when paying at the counter and going cashless also saves many trees from being cut down to produce money. But is all that worth the privacy of my purchases? If I am a person who buys drugs such as marijuana, then I do not think that going cashless is the right way to go. It was mentioned in the essay that there are some legal states in the US that legalize the use of marijuana, so if I my purchases are being constantly tracked and I make a purchase of marijuana inside my state (where it is illegal to use marijuana), people at the bank who are unaware of the legality of marijuana could speculate that I am doing illegal activity. Another thing that combats the idea of going cashless is security. With a cashless society, we are more prone to identity theft, people could just look up your name on Facebook, gather information about you, and use your information for their purchases. Things that need answers about cashless society is how companies will prevent identity theft, how they will convince people to go cashless, and how they will come up with their security to prevent account from being hacked.

5 Things I Learned

1. I learned that we are not yet ready for a cashless society since there are issues involving privacy and security.

2. I learned that once we go cashless, banks are able to monitor our recent purchases.

3. I learned that there are good things when it comes to cashless society, since it helps monitor people who are purchasing illegal products.

4. I learned that there are some instances where cash is definitely needed when purchasing a product, such as a state that legalizes the use of marijuana.

5. I learned that if we want to push through with a cashless society, we need to sacrifice our privacy.

5 Integrative Questions

1. Is it worth sacrificing one’s privacy for a cashless society?

2. Once the world goes cashless, should there be an option to stop banks from looking through our purchase history?

3. Is a cashless society more prone to identity theft than a society that uses cash as a mode of payment?

4. What problems would a person that moves to a cashless society encounter?

5. Are we more prone to getting hacked if we go cashless?