UID:
kobvindex_ZLB34939435
ISBN:
9780062936325
Content:
" The reach of Corporations into our lives via cards and apps has never been greater,many of us rarely use cash these days. But what we're told is a natural and inevitable move is actually the work of powerful interests. And the great battle of our time is the battle for ownership of the digital footprints that make up our lives. In Cloudmoney, Brett Scott tells an urgent and revelatory story about how the fusion of Big Finance and Big Tech requires cloudmoney8212 digital money underpinned by the banking sector8212 to replace physical cash. He dives beneath the surface of the global financial system to uncover a long-established lobbying infrastructure: an alliance of partners waging a covert war on cash. He explains the technical, political, and cultural differences between our various forms of money and shows how the cash system has been under attack for decades, as banking and tech companies promote a cashless society under the banner of progress. Cloudmoney takes us to the front lines of a war for our wallets that is also about our freedom, from marketing strategies against cash to the weaponization of COVID-19 to push fintech platforms, and from there to the rise of the cryptocurrency rebels and fringe groups pushing back. It asks the most pressing questions: Who benefits from a cashless society and who gets left behind? Is the end of cash the end of true privacy? And is our cloudmoney future closer than we think it is? "
Content:
Biographisches: " Brett Scott is an economic anthropologist, financial activist, and former broker. In 2013 he published The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money , and since then has spoken at hundreds of events across the globe and has appeared across international media, including BBC World News and Sky News. He has written extensively on financial reform, digital finance, alternative currency, blockchain technology, and the cashless society for publications like the Guardian , New Scientist , Huffington Post , Wired , and CNN.com, and also publishes the Altered States of Monetary Consciousness newsletter. He has worked on financial reform campaigns and alternative currency systems with a wide range of groups and is a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab (UK). He lives in Berlin. " Rezension(2): " Lionel Barber, journalist and former editor of the Financial Times : An important reflection on the new world of finance. Brett Scott writes with gusto about blockchain, crypto, and the power nexus between Big Tech and the banks in a cashless society. 8212" Rezension(3): "〈a href=http://www.kirkusreviews.com target=blank〉〈img src=https://images.contentreserve.com/kirkus_logo.png alt=Kirkus border=0 /〉〈/a〉: May 1, 2022 A finance journalist treks through the murky world of digital transactions, cryptocurrencies, and surveillance through data. Scott worked in a variety of roles in the finance sector before turning to an activist brand of journalism, and his 2013 book, The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance, did much to demystify the world of banking. Here, the author applies his expertise to show how digital currency has become the norm, to the point that the use of cash seems eccentric, even reactionary. The move away from cash began before the internet, but it received a massive push by the banking sector and big tech companies, with each gaining access to millions of new customers. E-money advocates claim that the transition was led by consumers' demands for convenience and flexibility, although Scott argues that it was mainly driven by corporations seeking to exert more control and generate more profits. Marketers claimed that a cashless society was the inevitable future, and anyone who opposed it would be left behind. Of course, electronic transactions generate fees, and online shopping often leads consumers to purchase unnecessary items. Perhaps the most worrying element is the way in which digitization allows for an unprecedented level of tracking and surveillance. For a while, writes Scott, it appeared that blockchain technologies would provide alternatives to corporate domination, but it's increasingly apparent that many behemoths have absorbed the challengers. Are the giants as secure as they seem? Likely not, according to the author. In fact, the system of e-money is remarkably fragile, vulnerable to cybercrime and economic crises. Though the author doesn't provide solutions to many of the problems involved in institutional-level digital finance, he offers a personal suggestion: We must vigorously assert our right to use cash, and to see that as a political actDeep down I am fighting for something personal. The right to be dirty and physical. Told with authority and clarity, this story will be disturbing to anyone who values their privacy and the freedom to choose. COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. " Rezension(4): "〈a href=http://www.publishersweekly.com target=blank〉〈img src=https://images.contentreserve.com/pw_logo.png alt=Publisher's Weekly border=0 /〉〈/a〉: June 6, 2022 Journalist Scott ( The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance ) sounds the alarm on a world without cash in this trenchant if uneven account. The cashless movement is gaining momentum, he writes, thanks in part to the pandemic, when paper money was seen as a disease vector (in 2020 the use of notes plummeted by almost 50% in the United Kingdom alone). Scott considers the virtues of hard currency—including its tactile nature and the fact it doesn’t track data—and portends a cash-free future wherein government and the finance-tech industry monitor transactions and extract fees. Scott’s depiction of the invisible web that facilitates digital transactions is sobering: “Cash is a bug, jamming the emerging fusion between finance and tech, and given that those are the biggest players in our economic network, they are jointly pulling away from it.” Unfortunately, in explaining financial concepts, he often relies upon clumsy analogies that muddy things more than clarify them (global monetary systems are a “nervous system,” central banks are a “Giant in the Mountain,” and bad posture is a metaphor for “the passive element” of digital payments). And while he makes a solid case for concern, he comes up short on solutions. This one’s likely to leave readers wanting."
Language:
English
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