My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data Made Me Look Like a Criminal
Just to be clear, the store selling gift cards had a signed out stating that they will report excessive number of cash transactions to the authorities because they are forced to by FinCEN and other U.S. regulatory bodies.
If a merchant fails to report cash gift card sells over the legal limit per day, they can be criminally prosecuted and put in jail.<p>So please don't blame the merchants for this. I can assure you that the merchant doesn't care if someone wants to pay in cash. In fact, they prefer it usually (e.g., cash discounts at gas stations).<p>What people see as "corporate oppression" is quite often government oppression.<p>Personally, I think both corporations and multinational corporations are engaged in this kind of misbehavior. Indeed, the line between powerful politicians and powerful corporate leaders blurs more and more each passing year.<p>If each side of the political spectrum continues to ignore the fact that both government and large corporations are at fault here, things will never get better.