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Cashless Society

Posted by michael on from the your-cashcard-or-your-life dept.

roomisigloomis writes "France has released "en masse" a new card to replace money. No private information is stored on the card and anybody can use it. Just like cash: you lose it and someone else uses it. Do you think we could be nearing the end of life of paper money?"

6 of 637 comments (clear)

  1. How do I count it? by jonjohnson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Paper money has the advantage over the card because you can see how much you have without accessing that information somewhere else.

  2. I'm not sure.. by Gyan · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Paper money has to be carefully studied and then duplicated with painstaking attention to detail.

    Someone could just probably figure out how money is "stored" and just keep on replenishing. Note the card is anonymous.

    Money might not grow on trees, but it can be created by computer :-)

  3. Re:How am I suppose to put this... by bm_luethke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is actually a good point. One of the advantages of cash is that it can be split into whatever demoniations you have.

    For instance, if I have a 45 dollar card and I want you to have 5 dollars, can't do it without a transfer machine (or if you forgot your card). With cash easy, assuming I have a five.

    And then counterfitting. Wow, if money is only a string of ones and zeros on a card WOO HOOO. So its digitally signed? great I just bought a 100 dollar card and did a bit by bit copy.

    Use a central authority, better hope that thing never gets hacked. Use a distributed method - gonna have SEVERE syncing problems (if it is anonymous then you can't just bill me later for the over charge).

    As of right now there is not enough incetive for many to hack a system, make it so it is and you will have script kiddies cloning money - yech.

    --
    ------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
  4. Re:The End Of Paper Money? by drfrogsplat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "totally anonymous" - it is (or can be), the cards store no personal information (unless you attach it to your credit card which has limited personal info on it)

    "never expires" - it does? thats not what the article says...

    "never gets damaged" - all physical currency only exists in a physical and damagable form, paper rips, burns, gets washed... plastic money isn't especially sturdy and who wants to keep massive volumes of coins?

    the money card would have a database (physically located in several places across the country/world) which is something physical cash cannot offer - a backup

    sounds to me like this money card is just as anonymous, safe from expiry and damage than normal cash....

  5. What about ad-hoc cash transfers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


    I don't see how this is addressed.

    (1) What if the babysitter comes to my house and I owe $4.50. Do we both go to the nearest ATM to transfer onto our cards? Will I have a card swipe in my house (most probably not).

    (2) The joke about lap dances someone made before my post actually rings true. How does one pay for these kinds of impromptu needs? How do I loan a friend $1 to get a bottle of pop? Do I give them my card to borrow? Would I give them my wallet? Maybe lap dancers will have card swipes strapped on ... somewhere ... for easy payment.

    (3) What about counting your cash? Simply, how do you know how much is on your card without going to an ATM to get a readout?

    (4) How do you give the kids a few dollars to shop or grab a bite? How do you give them one dollar to grab candy before the movie starts? Do you give them the entire card? Again, do you give your entire wallet / purse for a need like this?

    (5) If a card gets snapped in half, then what? When a paper bill is ripped, a taped one is still legal tender. What about cards?

    (6) Can someone run a bulk demagnetizer over my card and financially wipe me out? This is a serious concern, folks.

    How are these simple needs addressed? I also like to think that the days of paper money are numbered -- but how are these needs met?

    Maybe withdrawing all paper cash $5 and over, converting US dollar bills to a system like Canadian $1 and $2 coins for small change needs? Coins are much more convenient than paper that gets folded, spindled, mutilated, torn, etc.

  6. Re:The End Of Paper Money? by spongman · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Mever gets damaged? Okay, paper money is pretty tough but it's less than perfect. It's expensive to make (okay, it's not Roman gold, but...) and it's only purpose is to indicate a number. In this 'enlightened' age we have much better ways to remember numbers than peices of paper. The Romans originally used pieces of Gold to represent the bearer's worth, but they quickly realized that it wasn't what they carried that was important, it was what those coins represented, hence the transition to minted coins of lesser metals, and much later to notes of paper we all know and love too much.

    The anonymity of cash is attractive, definitely. And it's current durability is impressive, and in most countries guaranteed. But really, it's a pain in the ass. You have to finger through your wallet for the right notes and then you invariably receive a bunch of coins that you don't want to carry around.

    Wouldn't it be mcuh easier to swipe some card that doesn't require a PIN, doesn't contain any personal info, is as tough as your VISA and doesn't require a phone/data call to some central service?