Wetlook World Forum

You may not know it, but every Visa transaction you make is coded.

That code tells Visa and your bank what TYPE of goods or services you are buying.

And it is NOT only used for statistical reasons.

According to the European banks these and other changes were brought in by Visa at the request of the U.S. government.

For example banks in France, who handle the billing for many online gambling sites, have had many transactions turned down because they refused to use the code that would divulge to Visa that the transaction was for gambling.  This is because France has a privacy law that actually MEANS something.

When they were forced to comply with Visa or face being cut off from Visa, they found that 50% of their sales to US customers were refused by the customers bank because they did not allow their customers to use their Visa card to gamble online.

The privacy and civil liberties implications are obvious.

Your bank has a record not only of what you spend and who with, but the type of goods and services you are buying online and they use this information to decide whether you can use their card.

Do you want your bank to know that you subscribe to adult sites?  No?  Well, despite the innocent-sounding name that may appear on your statement, your bank KNOWS.

Because of this and other recent actions by Visa and MasterCard, the banks in Europe are in discussions about launching a new card, which will free their customers from the all-seeing eye and might of Visa.

In addition, some major banks IN the U.S.A. are looking into starting their own non-Visa cards.  Several are actually in litigation with Visa USA over the matter at the moment as Visa USA are trying to stop them.

It is possible that the European banks may end up refusing to handle Visa and Mastercard although their past cowardice suggests that will not go that far in standing up to Visa.  However, if they do, banks in Asia are threatening to follow suit.

That will mean that the U.S. will be isolated.  Americans will not be able to use their cards in most other countries and most people will not be able to use their cards in the U.S.A.

Canadian banks are watching and waiting to see what happens.

Brian