[mindslight]

The issue isn't credit, but payment processors. Add Paypal and ACH to Visa/MC and you rule out basically every web retailer. If Monero/Zcash get to the point where they are well-adopted practical choices this judgement can change, but we are nowhere near that state of affairs.

> 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.