Alternatives to PayPal ?

Right. An actual personal wallet for Bitcoin.
I set one up about 10 years ago, but there was no easy way to change your dollars into Bitcoins to fill your wallet, so it sat empty and was soon forgotten.

Bitcoin is no longer some strange obscure thing, it has accepted value. The system for using it must be easier, or soon will be.
So Yeah... I'm perfectly willing to start using Bitcoin as my preferred currency for internet purchases.

Even Tesla isn't currently accepting it. Are there any "mainstream" websites using it? Amazon? Walmart?

I'm ignorant of typical places that use Bitcoin in transactions. Until then its impractical and just a goofy-to-me gambling commodity.

EDIT: looks like newegg does, but I didn't step through the process. There appear to be some.
 
Last edited:
Hey - I wish you luck! You're going to a level I'm not committed to and I applaud you.
It's not hard and the sacrifices are pretty minimal. It's very worthwhile and fruitful but most people I think prefer to follow along with the masses, even if it's not good for them. I encourage anyone to check out that YouTube channel, or PM me if I can answer any questions.
 
It's not hard and the sacrifices are pretty minimal. It's very worthwhile and fruitful but most people I think prefer to follow along with the masses, even if it's not good for them. I encourage anyone to check out that YouTube channel, or PM me if I can answer any questions.
You mentioned de-googled phone. But certainly you still have a cell-provider. Assuming that, they are sharing metadata with (at LEAST) the US Gov.

Again, I refer back to the scale. I agree most people do follow along - ignorance is bliss. "I have nothing to hide", etc.

Maybe I will check it out, hopefully YT doesn't harvest that I'm watching and sell that info.....
 
everything is backdoored (including crypto). not saying folks shouldn't be mindful of their data, and it's arguably possible to shield certain bits of data or metadata from select parties.
but it's ill advised to summon personal notions that one's untouchable, and somehow found the secret combination of devices and patterns of behavior to outsmart every corporation and intelligence community on the planet
 
You mentioned de-googled phone. But certainly you still have a cell-provider. Assuming that, they are sharing metadata with (at LEAST) the US Gov.

Again, I refer back to the scale. I agree most people do follow along - ignorance is bliss. "I have nothing to hide", etc.

Maybe I will check it out, hopefully YT doesn't harvest that I'm watching and sell that info.....
Yeah, I said they do. You can reduce that with a VPN but they still have location data from their towers. VPN's are important on home networks too BTW. And yes, YT will harvest that data but if they can't tie you to your home IP (VPN) and you're not logged in and have no cookies stored for YT (essentially, use a browser that never logs into YT), they can harvest all they want but they won't know who's watching.

everything is backdoored (including crypto). not saying folks shouldn't be mindful of their data, and it's arguably possible to shield certain bits of data or metadata from select parties.
but it's ill advised to summon personal notions that one's untouchable, and somehow found the secret combination of devices and patterns of behavior to outsmart every corporation and intelligence community on the planet
"Arguably possible" haha, unquestionably possible. Avoid every possible form of surveillance? Of course not. But avoiding the vast majority? Certainly. And that makes a huge difference. And no, not everything is back doored. Open source is important for guaranteeing that.
 
So, I repeat myself, privacy is a scale, it's not black and white. Hermit life off the grid is near the "100% private" end. People posting their vacation plans on FB/X/Truth are down at "0% look at me" end.

With that scale there is an equal scale of work, effort, convenience and money to defeat common day privacy dangers.

Repeat: I applaud anyone doing whatever they feel they should be doing to stay private. Continue! Educate (not preach!) about things that can be done. Some people will accept and add more privacy tools as they see fit.
 
Sparingly, I use Venmo. My brother got me into creating an account because he has one, and he hooks me up for things like take-out meals.
The only problem I've had with Venmo is transferring funds into my PayPal. I did it once 6 months ago, but wasn't able to do it recently.
 
Back
Top Bottom