[ectopod]

> but how have we always just accepted the lack of personal privacy when it comes to finance?

We didn't. This is something that has changed in the UK in my lifetime. Unless you were the subject of an investigation you didn't have to provide much detail to the tax authorities, and what you did provide was kept strictly separate from other areas of government.

There was an attempt to strike a balance with the emphasis on privacy. Nowadays the government thinks it is entitled to all the data all the time.

[nly]

The UK is a more or less a cashless society, give or take a few regional variations and laggards.

I've lived in London for 3 years and don't think I've ever used cash for anything in that time. Trains, buses, taxis, bills (don't even need snail mail for those), restaurants, shops.

Outside of London it's a little different, but it's only a matter of a a few more years.

[celticninja]

That's not the case at all. HMRC is very proscriptive about what you can do with their data, that's if they let you near it all, even then client consent is absolutely required for each access.