Say no to Google Pay
Say no to Google Pay, because Google systematically breaks the law or is very unclear about privacy, as ASN bank stated in a post from 2020. And yet, barely four years later, ASN is now opting for Google Pay. That means they no longer support their own payment app and that paying with your phone means going through Google Pay. That is odd.
They even claim that they launched Google Pay THEMSELVES, and I quote: ‘We have now launched Google Pay for users of an Android smartphone.’ This is of course complete nonsense, but it does mislead the customer. In reality they are latching on to a solution that is free (for them) at the expense of the customer’s data. And unfortunately they are not the only one. Almost every Dutch bank is currently switching to payment-data-guzzling Google Pay with a similar story.
Paying with your phone, without Google Pay
Besides odd, it is also worrying. Of course you want to be able to pay with your phone as a consumer. It is fast and simple and moreover safer than using your bank card. I think that soon everyone will only pay with their phone. But at the same time it is entirely logical that you do not want to share your data with a company that systematically breaks the law. What you buy, where and when, is nobody’s business. You certainly do not want it ending up in an online profile that Google sells to the highest bidder. Yet that is what happens when you pay with Google Pay, because selling your data is Google’s primary business model.
Banks take no responsibility
I filed a complaint with my bank, ASN, straight away. Not least because the introduction of Google Pay is a 180 degree change of course for them. They hide behind the costs they have to make for the payment app, which are said to be very high. I am a software developer and I have studied PSD2 in depth. I can say with great certainty that those costs are a red herring. It is far more likely that they have a good deal with Google regarding the (future) use of Google Pay. After all, data is the new gold. Your gold, which in all likelihood has been, or will be, sold by them to Google. A case for the European lawyers in Brussels.
QR codes as the solution
Do you want to pay with your phone, but NOT use Google Pay? Then ask to pay through a QR payment link. That way you pay with your mobile phone, but you take Google Pay out of the equation. A transaction through a QR payment link often goes straight from bank to bank.
Our application uses QR payment links exclusively for payments. So… are you an entrepreneur? Then you can make the difference by choosing privacy-friendly payments.
Join in and say no to Google Pay. Not only does it sound good, save you money and make life easier… it is also a fine statement to make as a company in the context of corporate social responsibility!
