| > Furthermore, I do not view a person's associating with Visa/MC in today's society to be in any way voluntary - opting out is only possible at significant personal expense. Hardly. There are other creditors, and if you aren't worried about credit at all (and there are other ways to build credit), then you can use cash, buy gift card variants of their products which don't link to you, use some other provider (paypal), or some other form of payment entirely in some cases (e.g. cryptocurrency). There are more choices now than ever before. > Taken together, these put "abuse" of a "business relationship" is in the exact same category as interjected actions by "third" parties - unwanted transgressions.
> I wouldn't personally do such a thing, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't applaud someone who did. The only way I can read this is as you condoning additional violations of someone's privacy just because you think it's for the best this time. As I've noted, I don't think your value judgements have any place in my life, nor my interactions with other parties. This has nothing to do with whether the whether the credit card company was justified in doing what they did, it has to do with people minding their own business and not violating other people's privacy. If you think the credit card companies are going too far, then calk to the authorities for legal action or legislative remedy. I applaud that action, but I don't want your vigilante activism, and I don't condone breaking the law by people that think they're more special than other people because they're doing it for "a good reason" or because "it's really just helping people". I guess it's nice that you wouldn't do it yourself, but why would you applaud someone doing something that you wouldn't do yourself? It's real simple, if you can't or don't want to ask for permission to do something for someone else, then you shouldn't be doing that thing. |
> additional violations of someone's privacy
I've agreed that flipping that surveillance preference flag is a type of violation, just of territory that has already been trodden on. It's like if someone breaks into your house while you're away, then a neighbor comes along to put a tarp over your window before it rains, and you're complaining that the neighbor has trespassed. In a sense you'd be technically correct, but most people would consider that action to have been reasonable.
There is also the aspect where someone leaving this preference flag unmaintained is contributing to a larger attractive nuisance.
> why would you applaud someone doing something that you wouldn't do yourself?
Because I simply wouldn't want to take on the legal risk.