activistPnk

After grabbing your dataset and comparing to another, FWiW these lemmy nodes are apparently missing from lemmy-federate.com:

0xdd.org.ru			lemmy.libertarianfellowship.org
1337lemmy.com			lemmy.lidstah.info
50501.chat			lemmy.linuxuserspace.show
acqrs.co.uk			lemmy.lqx.net
alien.top			lemmy.lukeog.com
altgag.net			lemmy.lupiverse.com
altmedia.house			lemmy.mair.io
api-dev.rabotaem.app		lemmy.manganiello.tech
ascy.mooo.com			lemmy.maquis196.io
awful.systems			lemmy.mariusdavid.fr
badatbeing.social		lemmy.market
baraza.africa			lemmy.masto.community
beehaw.org			lemmy.mats.ooo
belfry.rip			lemmy.max-p.me
bfed.uk				lemmy.mbl.social
blendit.bsd.cafe		lemmy.meissners.me
blockchained.world		lemmy.mengsk.org
blog.kaki87.net			lemmy.menos.gotdns.org
board.minimally.online		lemmy.michaelsasser.org
bolha.forum			lemmy.minecloud.ro
bookwormstory.social		lemmy.minigubben.se
buddyverse.one			lemmy.mkwarman.com
canzuk.zone			lemmy.mlaga97.space
chachara.club			lemmy.moocloud.party
champserver.net			lemmy.mrm.one
chinese.lol			lemmy.multivers.cc
civilloquy.com			lemmy.nekusoul.de
communick.news			lemmy.nerdcore.social
corndog.social			lemmy.nexus
corrigan.space			lemmy.nocturnal.garden
cyberia.hydrar.de		lemmy.noellesporn.de
diggita.com			lemmy.nope.ly
digipres.cafe			lemmy.norbipeti.eu
discover.deltanauten.de		lemmy.nothavingthis.co.uk
discuss.hadan.social		lemmy.nowsci.com
discuss.icewind.me		lemmy.obrell.se
discuss.jacen.moe		lemmy.obscuro.be
dit.reformed.social		lemmy.okr765.com
doomscroll.n8e.dev		lemmy.pe1uca.dev
downonthestreet.eu		lemmy.peoplever.se
dullsters.net			lemmy.phschaad.com
enterprise.lemmy.ml		lemmy.pierre-couy.fr
expats.zone			lemmy.pifferi.io
falconry.party			lemmy.pit.ninja
fanaticus.social		lemmy.plaureano.nohost.me
fed.dyne.org			lemmy.pos005.com
feddit.bg			lemmy.projetretro.io
feddit.cl			lemmy.pt
feddit.dk			lemmy.quirijngb.com
feddit.it			lemmy.radio
feddit.rocks			lemmy.rhymelikedi.me
feddit.world			lemmy.rimkus.it
feditown.com			lemmy.rochegmr.com
fenmou.cyou			lemmy.runesmite.com
flamewar.social			lemmy.sador.me
foros.fediverso.gal		lemmy.schlunker.com
forum.ayom.media		lemmy.secnd.me
forum.novopoder.org		lemmy.securitycafe.ca
fstab.sh			lemmy.seekpie.nohost.me
gearhead.town			lemmy.self-hosted.site
gioia.news			lemmy.services.coupou.fr
hardware.watch			lemmy.shiny-task.com
healthy.community		lemmy.sieprawski.pl
helvetiverse.ch			lemmy.sietch.online
hi-fi.community			lemmy.simpl.website
hobbit.world			lemmy.skoops.social
hoihoi.superboi.eu.org		lemmy.skyjake.fi
hub.astromagna.com		lemmy.snoot.tube
ibbit.at			lemmy.snoozetown.org
info.prou.be			lemmy.sotu.casa
journal.sdelaem.agency		lemmy.spaceships.me
krabb.org			lemmy.spv.sh
kuu.kohana.fi			lemmy.squidcopter.homeip.net
kyu.de				lemmy.squids.ca
l.7rg1nt.moe			lemmy.ssba.com
l.henlo.fi			lemmy.stad.social
l.hostux.net			lemmy.staphup.nl
l.iri.cx			lemmy.starlightkel.xyz
l.mathers.fr			lemmy.stefanoprenna.com
l.mchome.net			lemmy.sumuun.net
l.posterdati.it			lemmy.super.ynh.fr
l.shoddy.site			lemmy.syrasu.com
l.swee.codes			lemmy.t-rg.ws
leaf.dance			lemmy.techhaven.io
lebowski.social			lemmy.technowizardry.net
lef.li				lemmy.tespia.org
leftopia.org			lemmy.tgxn.net
legbeard.xyz			lemmy.thc.sh
lem.afiz.org			lemmy.thefloatinglab.world
lem.free.as			lemmy.thewooskeys.com
lem.ph3j.com			lemmy.tobyvin.dev
lem.serkozh.me			lemmy.toot.pt
lem.trashbrain.org		lemmy.trippy.pizza
lem.ugh.im			lemmy.uhhoh.com
lemminielettrici.it		lemmy.umany222.net
lemmit.nyc.what.if.ua		lemmy.uninsane.org
lemmus.org			lemmy.vyizis.tech
lemmy-api.ten4ward.social	lemmy.w9r.de
lemmy.0upti.me			lemmy.waynetec.us
lemmy.100010101.xyz		lemmy.xaetacore.net
lemmy.30p87.de			lemmy.zhukov.al
lemmy.411426.xyz		lemmy.zimage.com
lemmy.4d2.org			lemmy.zwanenburg.info
lemmy.86thumbs.net		lemmy2.greatpyramid.social
lemmy.8bitar.io			lemmybefree.net
lemmy.8th.world			lemmygrad.ml
lemmy.activitypub.academy	lemmyis.fun
lemmy.ahall.se			lemmyjan.xyz
lemmy.amethyst.name		lemmyland.com
lemmy.amxl.com			lemmyusa.com
lemmy.ananace.dev		level-up.zone
lemmy.anonion.social		libretechni.ca
lemmy.anymore.nl		linkage.ds8.zone
lemmy.az.social			links.gayfr.online
lemmy.azamserver.com		links.nadia.moe
lemmy.b0tt0m.xyz		links.rocks
lemmy.baguenau.de		linux.community
lemmy.baie.me			linz.city
lemmy.balamb.fr			lm.inu.is
lemmy.beagle.quest		lm.madiator.cloud
lemmy.beru.co			lm.preferlinux.de
lemmy.bestiver.se		lmm.dru5k1.io
lemmy.blackeco.com		lmy.sagf.io
lemmy.bosio.info		lonestarlemmy.mooo.com
lemmy.bowyerhub.uk		lsmu.schmurian.xyz
lemmy.bp99.eu			lt.harding.dev
lemmy.brandyapple.com		lu.skbo.net
lemmy.brdsnest.net		martinlm.mypi.co
lemmy.brief.guru		matchpoint.zone
lemmy.caliban.io		metawire.eu
lemmy.casasnow.noho.st		mlem.eldritch.gift
lemmy.chigityk.com		monyet.cc
lemmy.cleberg.net		mouse.chitanda.moe
lemmy.cogindo.net		mtgzone.com
lemmy.conorab.com		mujico.org
lemmy.corbin.sh			natur.23.nu
lemmy.coupou.fr			nba.space
lemmy.cringecollective.io	netheads.online
lemmy.criticalbasics.xyz	news.idlestate.org
lemmy.cronyakatsuki.xyz		no.lastname.nz
lemmy.cultimean.group		nodesphere.site
lemmy.curiana.net		notdigg.com
lemmy.darkc0de.one		nsfwaiclub.com
lemmy.darvit.nl			orbiting.observer
lemmy.deadca.de			orcas.enjoying.yachts
lemmy.decronym.xyz		overctrl.dbzer0.com
lemmy.deedium.nl		parenti.sh
lemmy.dev.sebathefox.dk		poeng.link
lemmy.dexlit.xyz		ponder.cat
lemmy.digitalcharon.in		popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
lemmy.digitalfall.net		potato-guy.space
lemmy.dokmelody.org		poweruser.forum
lemmy.dryja.dev			preserve.games
lemmy.duckpond.social		pridehaven.social
lemmy.dudeami.win		providence.root.sx
lemmy.elbmatsch.de		ragu.meadow.cafe
lemmy.elxpd.com			rdrama.co
lemmy.enchanted.social		realbitcoin.cash
lemmy.enticedwanderer.com	reddeet.com
lemmy.esquiretheduke.nohost.me	rekabu.ru
lemmy.eus			rentadrunk.org
lemmy.evangineer.net		roanoke.social
lemmy.fait.ch			rollenspiel.forum
lemmy.federate.cc		rqd2.net
lemmy.fedi.zutto.fi		rss.ponder.cat
lemmy.fedifriends.social	sammich.es
lemmy.fediverse.jp		sappho.social
lemmy.ferg.al			selfhosted.forum
lemmy.fish			sfw.community
lemmy.flicke.red		sha1.nl
lemmy.freakaria.com		shibanu.app
lemmy.freewilltiger.page	slangenettet.pyjam.as
lemmy.fromshado.ws		slrpnk.net
lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz		soccer.forum
lemmy.fwgx.uk			social.belowland.com
lemmy.gf4.pw			social.dn42.us
lemmy.giftedmc.com		social.ggbox.fr
lemmy.glasgow.social		social.jears.at
lemmy.glue.io			social.nerdhouse.io
lemmy.graphics			social.p80.se
lemmy.grys.it			social.packetloss.gg
lemmy.halfbro.xyz		social.sour.is
lemmy.halis.io			spgrn.com
lemmy.hangdaan.com		stammtisch.hallertau.social
lemmy.helios42.de		sub.wetshaving.social
lemmy.helvetet.eu		supernova.place
lemmy.hogru.ch			swg-empire.de
lemmy.horwood.cloud		switter.su
lemmy.hybridsarcasm.xyz		szmer.info
lemmy.igl.ooo			tech.pr0n.pl
lemmy.imagisphe.re		test2.lealternative.net
lemmy.inbutts.lol		timeperiods.fr
lemmy.izanami.moe		timesink.p3nguin.org
lemmy.jamesj999.co.uk		tkohhh.social
lemmy.javant.xyz		toast.ooo
lemmy.jaypg.pw			twun.io
lemmy.jelliefrontier.net	ukfli.uk
lemmy.jhjacobs.nl		unlemmy.com
lemmy.johnnei.org		upvote.au
lemmy.jonaharagon.net		usenet.lol
lemmy.kaytse.fun		va11halla.bar
lemmy.kde.social		viewfinder.pro
lemmy.keniir.wtf		waterloolemmy.ca
lemmy.killtime.online		welppp.com
lemmy.kjkalle.net		wired.bluemarch.art
lemmy.klein.ruhr		wolf3d.space
lemmy.kmoneyserver.com		xn--mh-fkaaaaaa.schuetze.link
lemmy.kokomo.cloud		ymous.au
lemmy.lama-corp.space		zenith.digitalunderworlds.com
lemmy.lantian.pub		zonenranslite.de

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/25026502

Banks are equally (if not more) innovative in all the creative ingenious ways to thoroughly enshitify a service while still retaining loyal patrons who accept it, lick their boots, and stay over the long haul to experience new developments in enshitification techniques.

Enshitification is the most abusive when it is forced on you. Banking is one such case in many regions.

In my futile attempt to capture it all, I began with a list of categories so the various varieties of shit can be anatomized and classified into a taxonomy of shit:

1. Direct snooping and overcollection of data
2. Indirect snooping, outsourcing, info sharing, digital footprint maximization across actors
3. Anti-competition (e.g. “relationship banking”; all war on cash actions are anti-competition)
4. Protectionism
5. Dark patterns with money
6. Tech incompetence
7. Tech-driven exclusivity and discrimination / forced use of shitty tech
8. Discrimination against who you are and your demographic
9. Diffusion of responsibilty (i.e. finger pointing mechanisms)
10. Suppression of info (e.g. outsourced entities, reporting thresholds)
11. Reduced protection of data at rest
12. Data breach “compensation” without remuneration that enlarges consumers’ digital footprint (and lost opt-out letters)
13. Reduction of services
14. Automated decision making logic without human intervention
15. Penalization of enshitification avoidance

Of course the problem is immediately evident: most instances of enshitification fit into multiple categories. I cannot think of a useful way to reduce and broaden the categories to a point where instances of enshitification can each map to just one single category.

The itemized list enshitification instances is crazy long:

(EC → Enshitification Category)

Walk-in service without appointment is going away (EC 7,15) Some banks insist on an appointment; some have even dropped the appointment option and you simply cannot meet in person.
Banks are gradually removing services from their website (EC 7,13) This is to force more people to use their dodgy app.
All banks with apps impose closed-source software (EC 10)
Most banks with apps impose Google or Apple patronage just to obtain the app (EC 2) You must share sensitive info with surveillance advertisers in a country without privacy safeguards, and disclose to those untrustworthy corps where you bank.
Some banks have shutdown their website and closed their doors (EC 2,13) Thus making a dodgy app the exclusive means of access to your acct.
Some banks plainly write in their ToS that they log your IP; some don’t tell you (EC 1,10) When the ToS mentions this, it sometimes admits the purpose is to track your whereabouts.
Some banks refuse you an account if they discover you are US-born (EC 8) [outside the US] The ones that do not refuse an account still give adversely discriminatory treatment.
Banks outsource and share your personal data w/the supplier to repudiate fault in data breaches (EC 2,9,10) This is extra insideous in the US because if you get breached from a 3rd party, the 3rd party has no legal obligation to disclose to you which of your banks hired them, and the bank has no obliation to disclose their partners to you.
Banks loosely share your personal data to minimize quanitifiable breach damages (EC 2,9) It’s hard to attribute damages to a specific breach if your data was previously “legitimately” shared all over the place anyway.
Credit bureaus break the law requiring disclosure of their sources (EC 2) [US] Credit bureaus conceal from people /who/ reported their addresses (physical and email) to them. It’s illegal but there is no penalty so the law is just ignored. Consequently, banks share that info freely.
Cash withdrawal limits are shrinking (3,4) There are daily limits and monthly limits. As they shrink, you lose the ability to escape as quickly as you one day might want to.
Reduction of ATMs (EC 3,13) Europe
ATM consortium monopolies forming (EC 2,3,9) Netherlands, Belgium. Many banks have removed all their own ATMs and joined a consortium. Competition is gone. Netherlands has whole cities that have only one exclusive ATM operator (“Geldmaat”). If it gives you bad service, you’re fucked.
Reduced ATM services (EC 3,13) Balance inquiry service is either being stripped away or limited to clients of a specific bank
Elimination of ATM receipts (EC 13) Germany
Elimination of larger banknotes from ATMs (EC 13) Netherlands and France
ATM arbitrary denial of service (EC 3,8,9,10,14) Unlawful use of automated decision making logic without human intervention and without disclosure of /why/ a transaction is denied. ATM messaging always faults the card or the issuing bank even when the ATM internally denies a transaction.
Undisclosed ATM withdrawal limits (EC 3,10,13) ATMs have different withdrawal limits depending on whether a card is foreign or domestic. They never disclose the limit.
ATMs that eat cards if PIN entry is wrong (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that eat cards if “fraud” is suspected (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that eat cards if it cannot read the EMV chip (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that take a fee without disclosure or consent (EC 3,5,10) Germany
Some banks disable your card after ~3 ATM refusals (EC 3,14) They think it’s “suspicious” if ATMs refuse you in as few as 3 times consequetively despite you having to guess at what the undisclosed ATM limit is for foreign cards when visiting a foreign country.
Some banks freeze your account if your ID card on file expires (EC 1,5,10) It’s a way of communicating with customers. Instead of making the effort to inform you that your ID docs will expire, they just set the machinery to block access to your money on ID card expiry (even if that lands on a Friday and the bank is not open until Monday). It’s comparable to the method of communication used in Office Space to tell Marvin he was fired (no paycheck).
Some banks send an annual “welcome” letter (EC 1,5) It’s a sneaky way to check whether you still live at your current address. They send a useless letter periodically at your expense. If the letter is returned, they know you moved without telling them your new address.
Some banks charge extra for analog operations like paper statements (EC 15) To avoid enshitified digital platforms you naturally must switch to analog operations. But that’s not gratis at shitty banks. Penalties for avoiding enshitification is in itself an instance of enshitification.
Some banks simply outright refuse to send a paper statement (EC 1,15) Digital banks simply break the law requiring them to issue periodic statements. If you’re not on their digital platform, they will not communicate with you despite legal obligations. Tagged in cat.1 because forcing you onto their digital platform entails excessive data collection (IP address).
Some banks refuse cash deposits (EC 1,3,13) It’s a blunt refusal at some banks, and at others cash deposits impose an intrusive process of submitting proof of source (or be refused)
Some banks refuse cash withdrawals (EC 1,2,3,4,13,15)
Some banks report cash withdrawals to the police (EC 2,3,4) [Europe] Someone tried to simply withdraw a few thousand euros from her own account. The bank called the police to detained her for interrogation.
Some banks block Tor (EC 1,13) Banks can justify blocking Tor if they lack the competence to securely handle Tor connections -- but can they justify the incompetence? It’s enshitification nonetheless.
Some banks let you login over Tor, then instantly close your account (EC 1,5,13,14) [US] Some banks go to the insideous extreme of allowing customers to reach the login page over Tor only for the fucked up undisclosed purpose of discovering which of their customers use Tor. Then they close the account instantly and irreversably. To recover from this, you must open a whole new account from scratch.
Some banks refuse cash payments on a mortgage (EC 1,2,3,4)
Relationship banking→ forced account opening (EC 3,8) [Europe] Banks refuse to give you a mortgage unless you open other types of accounts. If the bank refuses you an asset account on the basis of where you were born, then they also refuse you a mortgage for not having your asset account with them. It amounts to discrimination in a housing transaction on the basis of national origin (a human rights violation). US banks do not take relationship banking to this extreme, which gives a strange inversion of what you would expect between the US and Europe.
Alcohol purchases tracked for mortgage denial (EC 1,4,8) [Europe] Some Scandinavian banks track your alcohol purchases, assume you’re drinking alone, and tag you as having a drinking a problem which then leads to mortgage denials. This showcases the stupidity of cashless bars in Netherlands.
All debits processed first in daily batches (EC 5) [US] Regardless of the sequence of your credits and debits throughout the day, at the end of the day the bank processes all debits first, then all credits. This increases the number of overdrafts, thus bank fees.
Credit cards send a paper check to refund a credit (EC 5) [US] The credit line is more profitable for banks if you are in debt. To increase debt (thus fees and interest) they disallow accounts from carrying a credit by sending a paper check and zeroing the balance. At the same time the customer’s money is inaccessible while traveling as a paper check.
Some banks send malformed email (EC 6) They assume everyone uses a graphical mail client. Many banks do not send a plaintext MIME part. And worse, some obnoxious and incompetent banks send a plaintext MIME part that says “your mail client has a problem” or ”get a better mail client”.
Some banks embed tracker pixels in email (EC 1,5) Tracker pixels are injected into email so when you open it the bank gets a signal that tells them that ① your email address is valid and you read it, ② when you read it, and ③ your IP address (which reveals other sensitive info)
Some digital banks surreptitiously use Microsoft or Google for email (EC 2,5,6) And worse: they often make it the sole means of communication.
Some banks share your email address with others (EC 2) E.g. credit bureaus
Some banks reject email forwarding addresses (EC 1,10) If supplying an email address to a bank, it’s a good practice to use a unique address just for that bank. If the address is leaked and/or abused, it enables you to trace the malpractice to the bank. For that self-defense reason, some banks reject such addresses.
Many credit unions surreptitiously expose all your most sensitive data to Cloudlare (EC 2,6,7,9,10,14) CF sees your unhashed username and pw without your knowledge. At the same time, the ToS shifts responsibility for credential leaks onto the customer.
Most CUs outsource billpay (EC 2,6,9) And the service is “free” with free postage on mailed checks. Don’t ask how it’s paid for. The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource e-statements and statement printing (EC 2,6,9) The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource their webservices (EC 2,6,9) The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource their phone apps (EC 6)
All banks and CUs have increasingly become KYC over-achievers (EC 1) [US] They collect much more information than legally required.
Some banks close your account if they suspect you are working in the sex trade or marijuana trade (EC 8)
Some banks close your account if they suspect you buy or sell a competing financial instrument (like cryptocurrency) (EC 3,4)

Amid the non-stop increasing enshitification of banks, Bruce Schneier said: “cryptocurrency is a solution looking for a problem”. Really, Schneier? You can’t find any problems with banks and credit unions?

The ultimate refuge from enshitification (of any kind) is non-participation. Boycotts. But forced-banking has quietly become reality in some regions, like Europe. Enshitification is therefore forced. There is no right to boycott. Even living off-grid and self-employed does not solve the problem when the gov’s tax regime refuses cash payments and requires bank transfers.

EDIT: please mention any instances of enshitification not mentioned in my list. Would be nice to have a comprehensive overview in one place.

Banks are equally (if not more) innovative in all the creative ingenious ways to thoroughly enshitify a service while still retaining loyal patrons who accept it, lick their boots, and stay over the long haul to experience new developments in enshitification techniques.

Enshitification is the most abusive when it is forced on you. Banking is one such case in many regions.

In my futile attempt to capture it all, I began with a list of categories so the various varieties of shit can be anatomized and classified into a taxonomy of shit:

1. Direct snooping and overcollection of data
2. Indirect snooping, outsourcing, info sharing, digital footprint maximization across actors
3. Anti-competition (e.g. “relationship banking”; all war on cash actions are anti-competition)
4. Protectionism
5. Dark patterns with money
6. Tech incompetence
7. Tech-driven exclusivity and discrimination / forced use of shitty tech
8. Discrimination against who you are and your demographic
9. Diffusion of responsibilty (i.e. finger pointing mechanisms)
10. Suppression of info (e.g. outsourced entities, reporting thresholds)
11. Reduced protection of data at rest
12. Data breach “compensation” without remuneration that enlarges consumers’ digital footprint (and lost opt-out letters)
13. Reduction of services
14. Automated decision making logic without human intervention
15. Penalization of enshitification avoidance

Of course the problem is immediately evident: most instances of enshitification fit into multiple categories. I cannot think of a useful way to reduce and broaden the categories to a point where instances of enshitification can each map to just one single category.

The itemized list enshitification instances is crazy long:

(EC → Enshitification Category)

Walk-in service without appointment is going away (EC 7,15) Some banks insist on an appointment; some have even dropped the appointment option and you simply cannot meet in person.
Banks are gradually removing services from their website (EC 7,13) This is to force more people to use their dodgy app.
All banks with apps impose closed-source software (EC 10)
Most banks with apps impose Google or Apple patronage just to obtain the app (EC 2) You must share sensitive info with surveillance advertisers in a country without privacy safeguards, and disclose to those untrustworthy corps where you bank.
Some banks have shutdown their website and closed their doors (EC 2,13) Thus making a dodgy app the exclusive means of access to your acct.
Some banks plainly write in their ToS that they log your IP; some don’t tell you (EC 1,10) When the ToS mentions this, it sometimes admits the purpose is to track your whereabouts.
Some banks refuse you an account if they discover you are US-born (EC 8) [outside the US] The ones that do not refuse an account still give adversely discriminatory treatment.
Banks outsource and share your personal data w/the supplier to repudiate fault in data breaches (EC 2,9,10) This is extra insideous in the US because if you get breached from a 3rd party, the 3rd party has no legal obligation to disclose to you which of your banks hired them, and the bank has no obliation to disclose their partners to you.
Banks loosely share your personal data to minimize quanitifiable breach damages (EC 2,9) It’s hard to attribute damages to a specific breach if your data was previously “legitimately” shared all over the place anyway.
Credit bureaus break the law requiring disclosure of their sources (EC 2) [US] Credit bureaus conceal from people /who/ reported their addresses (physical and email) to them. It’s illegal but there is no penalty so the law is just ignored. Consequently, banks share that info freely.
Cash withdrawal limits are shrinking (3,4) There are daily limits and monthly limits. As they shrink, you lose the ability to escape as quickly as you one day might want to.
Reduction of ATMs (EC 3,13) Europe
ATM consortium monopolies forming (EC 2,3,9) Netherlands, Belgium. Many banks have removed all their own ATMs and joined a consortium. Competition is gone. Netherlands has whole cities that have only one exclusive ATM operator (“Geldmaat”). If it gives you bad service, you’re fucked.
Reduced ATM services (EC 3,13) Balance inquiry service is either being stripped away or limited to clients of a specific bank
Elimination of ATM receipts (EC 13) Germany
Elimination of larger banknotes from ATMs (EC 13) Netherlands and France
ATM arbitrary denial of service (EC 3,8,9,10,14) Unlawful use of automated decision making logic without human intervention and without disclosure of /why/ a transaction is denied. ATM messaging always faults the card or the issuing bank even when the ATM internally denies a transaction.
Undisclosed ATM withdrawal limits (EC 3,10,13) ATMs have different withdrawal limits depending on whether a card is foreign or domestic. They never disclose the limit.
ATMs that eat cards if PIN entry is wrong (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that eat cards if “fraud” is suspected (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that eat cards if it cannot read the EMV chip (and conceal the confiscation risk) (EC 3,5,10,14) Netherlands
ATMs that take a fee without disclosure or consent (EC 3,5,10) Germany
Some banks disable your card after ~3 ATM refusals (EC 3,14) They think it’s “suspicious” if ATMs refuse you in as few as 3 times consequetively despite you having to guess at what the undisclosed ATM limit is for foreign cards when visiting a foreign country.
Some banks freeze your account if your ID card on file expires (EC 1,5,10) It’s a way of communicating with customers. Instead of making the effort to inform you that your ID docs will expire, they just set the machinery to block access to your money on ID card expiry (even if that lands on a Friday and the bank is not open until Monday). It’s comparable to the method of communication used in Office Space to tell Marvin he was fired (no paycheck).
Some banks send an annual “welcome” letter (EC 1,5) It’s a sneaky way to check whether you still live at your current address. They send a useless letter periodically at your expense. If the letter is returned, they know you moved without telling them your new address.
Some banks charge extra for analog operations like paper statements (EC 15) To avoid enshitified digital platforms you naturally must switch to analog operations. But that’s not gratis at shitty banks. Penalties for avoiding enshitification is in itself an instance of enshitification.
Some banks simply outright refuse to send a paper statement (EC 1,15) Digital banks simply break the law requiring them to issue periodic statements. If you’re not on their digital platform, they will not communicate with you despite legal obligations. Tagged in cat.1 because forcing you onto their digital platform entails excessive data collection (IP address).
Some banks refuse cash deposits (EC 1,3,13) It’s a blunt refusal at some banks, and at others cash deposits impose an intrusive process of submitting proof of source (or be refused)
Some banks refuse cash withdrawals (EC 1,2,3,4,13,15)
Some banks report cash withdrawals to the police (EC 2,3,4) [Europe] Someone tried to simply withdraw a few thousand euros from her own account. The bank called the police to detained her for interrogation.
Some banks block Tor (EC 1,13) Banks can justify blocking Tor if they lack the competence to securely handle Tor connections -- but can they justify the incompetence? It’s enshitification nonetheless.
Some banks let you login over Tor, then instantly close your account (EC 1,5,13,14) [US] Some banks go to the insideous extreme of allowing customers to reach the login page over Tor only for the fucked up undisclosed purpose of discovering which of their customers use Tor. Then they close the account instantly and irreversably. To recover from this, you must open a whole new account from scratch.
Some banks refuse cash payments on a mortgage (EC 1,2,3,4)
Relationship banking→ forced account opening (EC 3,8) [Europe] Banks refuse to give you a mortgage unless you open other types of accounts. If the bank refuses you an asset account on the basis of where you were born, then they also refuse you a mortgage for not having your asset account with them. It amounts to discrimination in a housing transaction on the basis of national origin (a human rights violation). US banks do not take relationship banking to this extreme, which gives a strange inversion of what you would expect between the US and Europe.
Alcohol purchases tracked for mortgage denial (EC 1,4,8) [Europe] Some Scandinavian banks track your alcohol purchases, assume you’re drinking alone, and tag you as having a drinking a problem which then leads to mortgage denials. This showcases the stupidity of cashless bars in Netherlands.
All debits processed first in daily batches (EC 5) [US] Regardless of the sequence of your credits and debits throughout the day, at the end of the day the bank processes all debits first, then all credits. This increases the number of overdrafts, thus bank fees.
Credit cards send a paper check to refund a credit (EC 5) [US] The credit line is more profitable for banks if you are in debt. To increase debt (thus fees and interest) they disallow accounts from carrying a credit by sending a paper check and zeroing the balance. At the same time the customer’s money is inaccessible while traveling as a paper check.
Some banks send malformed email (EC 6) They assume everyone uses a graphical mail client. Many banks do not send a plaintext MIME part. And worse, some obnoxious and incompetent banks send a plaintext MIME part that says “your mail client has a problem” or ”get a better mail client”.
Some banks embed tracker pixels in email (EC 1,5) Tracker pixels are injected into email so when you open it the bank gets a signal that tells them that ① your email address is valid and you read it, ② when you read it, and ③ your IP address (which reveals other sensitive info)
Some digital banks surreptitiously use Microsoft or Google for email (EC 2,5,6) And worse: they often make it the sole means of communication.
Some banks share your email address with others (EC 2) E.g. credit bureaus
Some banks reject email forwarding addresses (EC 1,10) If supplying an email address to a bank, it’s a good practice to use a unique address just for that bank. If the address is leaked and/or abused, it enables you to trace the malpractice to the bank. For that self-defense reason, some banks reject such addresses.
Many credit unions surreptitiously expose all your most sensitive data to Cloudlare (EC 2,6,7,9,10,14) CF sees your unhashed username and pw without your knowledge. At the same time, the ToS shifts responsibility for credential leaks onto the customer.
Most CUs outsource billpay (EC 2,6,9) And the service is “free” with free postage on mailed checks. Don’t ask how it’s paid for. The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource e-statements and statement printing (EC 2,6,9) The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource their webservices (EC 2,6,9) The few giant suppliers obviously see all the transactions they handle.
Most CUs outsource their phone apps (EC 6)
All banks and CUs have increasingly become KYC over-achievers (EC 1) [US] They collect much more information than legally required.
Some banks close your account if they suspect you are working in the sex trade or marijuana trade (EC 8)
Some banks close your account if they suspect you buy or sell a competing financial instrument (like cryptocurrency) (EC 3,4)

Amid the non-stop increasing enshitification of banks, Bruce Schneier said: “cryptocurrency is a solution looking for a problem”. Really, Schneier? You can’t find any problems with banks and credit unions?

The ultimate refuge from enshitification (of any kind) is non-participation. Boycotts. But forced-banking has quietly become reality in some regions, like Europe. Enshitification is therefore forced. There is no right to boycott. Even living off-grid and self-employed does not solve the problem when the gov’s tax regime refuses cash payments and requires bank transfers.

I fed this output:

https://lemmy-federate.com/api/community.find?input=%7B%22skip%22%3A0%2C%22take%22%3A10%7D

Into json_pp | grep name, and got:

"name" : "science_memes",
               "name" : "al_gore",
               "name" : "applied_paranoia",
               "name" : "windowmanagers",
               "name" : "hihihi",
               "name" : "media_reviews",
               "name" : "petits_animaux",
               "name" : "twnw",
               "name" : "niagaraonthelake",
               "name" : "niagarafalls",

That’s it. There are no more names. Inspecting the dataset seems to show a lot of communities, but only their number. Is there a separate table that maps community numbers to names?

(previous discussion for reference)

The LaTeX scrlttr2 class is useful for using and re-using windowed envelopes. If the envelope is standard, the geometry may be known to the supplied KOMAscript machinery. If not, a few measurements can be given as parameters to align an address in a custom window.

To load the US №9 standard envelope, you would start with:

\documentclass[UScommercial9]{scrlttr2}

or for the French standard:

\documentclass[NF]{scrlttr2}

DIN is the token for the German standard.

If you reuse a non-standard windowed envelope, you can put the following in the preamble and tamper with the measurements as needed:

\makeatletter
\setplength{foldmarkhpos}{4.2mm}   % default=3.5mm; distance from paper edge to fold mark; should account for the unprintable area of your printer
\setplength{tfoldmarkvpos}{108mm}  % default=99mm; distance between top fold mark and top paper edge
\setplength{firstheadwidth}{190mm} % default=170mm for NF and \paperwidth for others; width of letterhead
\setplength{firstheadvpos}{10mm}   % default=15mm for NF; distance from top edge to letterhead
\setplength{toaddrvpos}{40mm}      % default=35mm; distance between top of window and top paper edge
\setplength{toaddrhpos}{98mm}      % default=-10mm; distance from the left edge of the paper to the address field (if positive)
\setplength{toaddrindent}{5mm}     % default=10mm; left and right indentation of the address within the to-address box
\setplength{toaddrheight}{40mm}    % default=45mm
\makeatother

UPDATE:
Word of caution: someone in Mastodon once posted an envelope they received in the UK from their hospital that had a quite big window, and at the bottom of the window under his address was “the results from your colonoscopy…” in full view of anyone handling the envelope.

So indeed, privacy snafus happen. LaTeX’s default and normal settings never result in that kind of leak, but if you do a lot of manipulation to fit a lot of text on the first page, that sort of exposure is within the realm of possibility.

I write a lot of snail-mail paper letters. Why? Two primary drivers:

• Enshitification. If the digital path has CAPTCHAs or dark patterns, I refuse to serve as an enabler. I don’t do CAPTCHAs.
• Boycotts. I boycott both Microsoft and Google. When a recipient’s email provider is one of them, an honest boycott entails not feeding data to those surveillance advertisers who profit from the data.

Government offices sometimes just ignore the letters -- letters which require a response.

The insideous nature of being ignored is you are also naturally blocked from knowing why you were ignored. Maybe the mail was trully lost - you don’t know. Or maybe they are ignoring paper letters because young workers (born with Internet) don’t know how to write paper letters, or can’t be bothered. Ignoring letters is common in the US because there is usually no oversight. That is, there is no easy escalation option when a state secretary ignores a request. You’re simply fucked unless you’re willing to sue them (and likely lose, but at least you’ll have a chance at getting an answer on why you were ignored).

Europe is structurally more competent. Most¹ NEBs² and other gov agencies have an oversight authority like an ombudsman, where you can complain that your complaint was ignored. Sometimes I strangely find that my complaint actually was being silently treated or investigated, but the agency was just not competent enough to acknowledge the complaint. Other times, they simply ignore. Nonetheless, it’s a shit-show. There is rarely an ultimate answer and the original non-compliance you were reporting goes uncorrected. You don’t even get an apology, generally.

European agencies and ombudsmen are competent as far as keeping stats on the data they process. Complaints get categorised, counted, and stats reported annually. But there is no stat on the number of submissions that get ignored.

We need a federal agency to simply take reports of ignored correspondence, and investigate why it was ignored.

¹ Exceptionally, there is no effective oversight above the data protection authorities. You have no recourse when they ignore you. Same problem with federal ombudsmen.
² NEB: National Enforcement Body

I noticed when visiting slrpnk.net there is an anti-bot mechanism saying “making sure you’re not a bot”, which takes a few seconds. I suppose there is some javascript calculations or something.

Yet most slrpnk.net communities manage to get scraped into the lemmyverse DB anyway. Did slrpnk have to make some kind of exception for that?

I notice other complaints about missing communities. Why does this happen?

Would it make sense for the lemmyverse.net project and the lemmy-federate.com project to exchange data?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24729225

Are there any open datasets that track who is federated / defederated with who? I have the Lemmyverse datasets but it has nothing on node relationships.

lemmy-federate.com appears to have the info I am after, but it only appears to be reachable in a GUI webpage. Any way to get the dataset?

Are there any open datasets that track who is federated / defederated with who? I have the Lemmyverse datasets but it has nothing on node relationships.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24727683

The fediverse w/the activitypub API sell itself as being decentralised, but it’s actually just neutral. It merely enables decentralised forums to coexist with centralised venues. The Lemmy implementation in particular does nothing to proactively promote decentralisation or counter concentrations of power.

When the software is not designed to steer toward decentralisation, centralisation persists because the network effect is left uncountered. The current stats prove that a mass majority of users and their activity are subject to the concentrated power of a few, which ultimately singularly falls under the power, oversight, and competency of the biggest walled garden in the world: Cloudflare Inc, in the US.

Calling Lemmy “neutral” is overly generous, in fact. When the stock Lemmy web client is queried for communities, it prioritises the giant centralised communities in top rankings of the search results. It’s no better than Google, where Cloudflare also dominates the top slots in web search results. This exacerbates the network effect by cattle-herding people toward increased centralisation.

Lemmy ranks decentralised communities at the bottom. And in some cases the ranking is so low that it’s out of reach when cross-posting. The cross-post mechanism forces a search for the target community, and that search does not support entry of the address of the community that includes the domain. When the list is so long it exceeds the pulldown window length, it’s out of reach.

Yes, we know centralisation is not their deliberate goal. Lemmy developers fear that newcoming novices would unwittingly post in a ghost town without strategically cross-posting and then become immediately discouraged by minimal engagement, and from there bounce back to Twitter or wherever they came from. But it must be realised that the mass nannied steering they have resorted to has cultivated centralisation that defeats the founding purpose of the fedi.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24727683

The fediverse w/the activitypub API sell itself as being decentralised, but it’s actually just neutral. It merely enables decentralised forums to coexist with centralised venues. The Lemmy implementation in particular does nothing to proactively promote decentralisation or counter concentrations of power.

When the software is not designed to steer toward decentralisation, centralisation persists because the network effect is left uncountered. The current stats prove that a mass majority of users and their activity are subject to the concentrated power of a few, which ultimately singularly falls under the power, oversight, and competency of the biggest walled garden in the world: Cloudflare Inc, in the US.

Calling Lemmy “neutral” is overly generous, in fact. When the stock Lemmy web client is queried for communities, it prioritises the giant centralised communities in top rankings of the search results. It’s no better than Google, where Cloudflare also dominates the top slots in web search results. This exacerbates the network effect by cattle-herding people toward increased centralisation.

Lemmy ranks decentralised communities at the bottom. And in some cases the ranking is so low that it’s out of reach when cross-posting. The cross-post mechanism forces a search for the target community, and that search does not support entry of the address of the community that includes the domain. When the list is so long it exceeds the pulldown window length, it’s out of reach.

Yes, we know centralisation is not their deliberate goal. Lemmy developers fear that newcoming novices would unwittingly post in a ghost town without strategically cross-posting and then become immediately discouraged by minimal engagement, and from there bounce back to Twitter or wherever they came from. But it must be realised that the mass nannied steering they have resorted to has cultivated centralisation that defeats the founding purpose of the fedi.