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By Frank Knopers:
Along with the digitization of our society, a surveillance state has also emerged, in which companies and governments can collect more and more information about citizens. And with that, our privacy is under increasing pressure. That's what Ancilla van der Leest, former party leader of the Pirate Party and privacy expert, says in an interview with Holland Gold. She warns of the risks of a society in which people are becoming increasingly dependent on, for example, banks and governments.
According to van der Leest, privacy is about respect for the other and about autonomy for the individual. These terms are no longer self-evident in today's society, because the norms are constantly shifting. We see this not only in the power of the big tech companies, but also in the evolution of our money system.
For example, there are fewer and fewer places where you can still pay with cash, while this is the only means of payment that is accessible to everyone and that does not leave any data with a third party. Cash, which in itself is a neutral means of payment, is becoming increasingly criminalised. Van der Leest finds this a worrying development. As a result, we reveal much more information than necessary, while the digital payment system is also vulnerable due to its dependence on computer systems and electricity. A digital money system can also be hacked. That's why it's still important to keep cash on hand.
The next step in the evolution of our money system is digital central bank money, where citizens and businesses hold an account directly with the central bank. That sounds like a very user-friendly and accessible system, but there are also risks. According to the privacy expert, this money system is not anonymous and gives governments and central banks more opportunities to control people's behavior. In that sense, it is the prelude to a kind of social credit system, in which governments determine the rules of the game.
According to van der Leest, anything you can do to be less dependent on banks is a step in the right direction. Bitcoin is basically a nice concept, but it's not cash. This cryptocurrency can be part of the solution, but it is still not an alternative to cash. Just like with scriptural money, payments in cryptocurrencies require an infrastructure of the internet and devices. In this sense, it is not comparable to traditional coins and banknotes.
A wake-up call was the situation in Cyprus and Greece during the European debt crisis. People in those countries were suddenly only allowed to withdraw a limited amount of cash per day. We are laconic about it because of the association with criminal money, but there are also many innocent civilians who have been affected by it. That's why it's important to always keep some of your assets outside the financial system. This can be cash, but also gold or Bitcoin.
