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by kwanbix 827 days ago
It is so funny because Germans seem so worried about privacy and they have their last names in the intercoms at plain sight of everyone. More funny even, when you want to buy something on ebay, half of the time they give you their bank account number for you to transfer instead of paypal. I don't get it.
2 comments

There's no meaningful harm you can do with European bank account number. Only in backwards US banking system this can be a risk.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinanc...

"Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he was wrong to brand the scandal of lost CDs containing the personal data of millions of Britons a "storm in a teacup" after falling victim to an internet scam.

The outspoken star printed his bank details in a newspaper to try and make the point that his money would be safe and that the spectre of identity theft was a sham.

He also gave instructions on how to find his address on the electoral roll and details about the car he drives.

However, in a rare moment of humility Clarkson has now revealed the stunt backfired and his details were used to set up a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association."

A German charity whose operations I know publishes their bank account information pretty much everywhere: on their website, on sides of their car.

It was a bit of a nuisance at times to roll back a few fraudulent transactions but apart from calling up the bank and making it their problem (maybe 1h of life time lost to that, in total), the damage to the charity created by publishing the bank account information has been 0€ in well over 10 years.

Those are regular accounts, neither bank offers some kind of "ingress only" bank account number (that automatically clears to the real account, or something like that), even though that would save _them_ time.

… or the fact that a while ago there had been a brouhaha about WHOIS data for .de-domains, with the result that that WHOIS data is no longer publicly accessible, but at the same time almost all websites are still required to feature a full imprint with address and all – not just commercial websites, but almost all private websites, too…