2 November 2022 | In early October, the leading Internet payment provider Paypal announced that from 3 November it would take $2,500 from the accounts of customers who it thinks spread misinformation. After negative customer reactions, Paypal abandoned this plan. However, social media commentary has it that the new policy was secretly rolled out, nevertheless. […]
My book in German* with the translated title: “Brave New Money: PayPal, WeChat, Amazon Go – A Totalitarian World Currency in the Making” has just been published by Campus. I have tanslated the “Introduction and Overview” and part of Chapter 1. I will publish this translation in two parts over the next few days. This […]
14 April 2024 | For eight days, a QR code will be required to enter the Parisian neighbourhoods along the Seine, where the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place. Soldiers will control the entrances. As feared and predicted, the digital access card system practised with vaccination cards will be made permanent. This […]
22 September 2023 | From 30 September, new terms and conditions will apply to Microsoft customers. If you do not adhere to a vague code of conduct when using products of the quasi-monopolist, your account can be blocked and you can lose access to all paid or free services and your data stored there. Recourse […]
23 October 2022 | The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican turns two. After his famous verdict “This economy kills,” Pope Francis seems to now be offering big capitalists a spiritual platform for polishing their public image. Unless, the commitments that corporate CEOs post on this platform are seriously intended to make the world […]
9 June 2022 | In Italy, half the population already has the new biometric digital IDs, which allow people to conduct their affairs with the notoriously inefficient administration online. But the new digital identities are supposed to be used for a lot more. Italians may soon be some of the supervised apeople in Europe.
4 June 2022 | Social credit and digital central bank money are tools of technocratic social engineers. They want to turn societies into social mega-machines. To prevent this, it is not enough to defend individual freedom against powerful corporations or an encroaching state. We need a vision of a better alternative to social engineering.