[soulofmischief]

> You write as if someone held a gun to your head and force you to sign up for Plaid. Plaid doesn't require anyone to use it.

There is not a physical gun pointed at my head, but an increasing amount of digital online interactions are solely gated by Plaid. I've run into plenty cases where I simply had no choice, for example dealing with landlords.

And you already know how long it takes for financial systems to evolve once in place, as evidenced by your own frustration for them not embracing APIs and digital sovereignty. So once a solution like Plaid is in place, we're normalizing this kind of man-in-the-middle security nightmare for generations to come. Even if Plaid's founders did not have malicious intent, the company will eventually change hands to someone less ethical, and the door is open for other companies to seek the same kind of relationships with end users. If not malicious, Plaid is brazenly reckless and short-sighted.

And regardless... I as a consumer do not want to hand over my passwords to a man in the middle, I'm already angry enough at the security and password restrictions I encounter now with financial institutions. If I am in a position where I cannot rent a home or make an important purchase without interacting with a company like Plaid, where is my digital sovereignty?

[soco]

I think this anger with Plaid is unwarranted. Without them, or before them, you had zero API access because the banks (including yours) don't give a rat's ass on your fancy access needs. Now Plaid managed to gather together some kind of access. Are they to blame because they managed that? Do you still have any alternative with the bank? I think no, and no. You can get back to the "standard" situation of no API, no guns involved, or you can use them as middlemen. Or you can create your own middleman service if you like and everybody will appreciate your Plaid alternative (except Plaid, I suppose).

[BoorishBears]

I think it's warranted if you don't look closely, unwarranted if you look deeper, and once again warranted if you look even deeper...

Before Plaid there, the floor to require a bank account to do something in your SaaS was high to impossible.

Now the floor is low, and we got a bunch of applications that take advantage of that, so good right?

The problem is most of those applications are not in your best interests as a person.

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It mostly just enabling a bunch of junk BNPL debt and modern day payday loan schemes.

It allows offerings that are too risky to be good ideas to patch things up by just peeking into an account and making sure they'll be able to take their $X before some other rent-seeker drains the account for the month.

It also normalizes so much more access and visibility than is actually needed, so even in cases where the risk was acceptable before, now why not just peek really quickly and improve your bottom line at the expense of having yet another service with access to your financial data.

Overall Plaid probably has not been a net positive for the average person. Other countries have open banking platforms but they're also must stronger on regulation and oversight than the US, so you don't seem it become quite as much of a negative.

[soulofmischief]

> Are they to blame because they managed that?

Do you understand that the ends don't always justify the means? Do you understand that not trading security and privacy for convenience means putting up with inconvenience? My complaints are warranted because yes, they are to blame, no, I do not want to be forced to use their service.

And when the company is eventually sold and financial transaction data harvested (whether against the wishes of the founders or not, loopholes exist), apologists will turn around and blame the new company instead of Plaid, who opened the door for them.

> Or you can create your own middleman service if you like and everybody will appreciate your Plaid alternative.

I think the financial tech market is rapidly evolving, and I'll just wait. If I need financial automation and a service like Stripe is not available, I can always use a cryptocurrency which respects my autonomy and privacy.