They're all stupid.

Yes, they did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ban_on_face_covering

It's not a replacement until they issue cards that work without a phone.

Frankly, the number of people that care about no-phone functionality is tiny. I bet the greatest preference is the other way: the ability to use it without a physical card. Everyone has a phone.

Of course you need a backup at some point, but it’s just that: a backup.

The stated objective of this initiative is to break free of the American Mastercard/Visa duopoly. It would be pretty fucking stupid that if replacement required the use of the American Apple/Google duopoly!

Convenience of use with your phone is one thing. Requiring a (locked-down, attestated) phone to create an account is another thing entirely.

no doubt that is a top FEATURE request, but why do all this work to transfer the system from a US finance oligopoly to a US tech oligopoly?

Android and IOS are controlled by US companies. And both google and apple can ban you for no reason.

Touché! Freeing oneself from America is nearly impossible. Unless you’re China, probably.

This isn't about kids. That's the excuse.

Well, let me guess... even more bots and new agentic spammers and scammers?

What GDPR banner? GDPR doesn't impose any banners. ePrivacy Directive did, and it's actually a choice: use tracking cookies with consent, or don't use tracking cookies and no consent is needed.

Then, why have groups at all? Direct democracy!

Mainly participation. Voter participation is already very low. It would be interesting if voting was more like jury duty and a random sample of the population was selected to vote per issue. That way there are no termed representatives to corrupt and participation is always significant and uniform.

Representation by random selection instead of popular vote was already proposed as a fix for many of the democracy's disadvantages.

> I'm just tired of being downvoted every single time I mention that JavaScript is necessary on the modern web

Downvotes should give you a hint that the few users that know what javascript is, don't like it, and the rest of them, if they learned, most likely won't like it either. Your attitude shows that you don't care.

My attitude shows that JavaScript is necessary for the modern web experience! No one has successfully argued against this yet-- nor have they even really tried! You're all just mad about my tone without even discussing the content as if this was a kindergarten class. This is absurd.

Let me get this right, you're saying that people on HackerNews don't know about JavaScript-- one of the most popular programming languages in the world?

> My attitude shows that JavaScript is necessary for the modern web experience! No one has successfully argued against this yet-- nor have they even really tried!

Exactly! I agree with you 100%! I, and many others, don't like the modern web experience and JS is the foundation that makes it all possible.

Yeah, and I don't like paying taxes or many other aspects of modern society, but I don't reflexively downvote anyone who mentions that you need to pay taxes to participate in modern society.

You missed the point.

Yes, I vote for leaders. So does everyone else, unfortunately.

> "they can sue"

That's one of the features of a free country. What you propose is close to tyranny.

Ah yes a "free country" is where some (at best) annoying person or (at worse) a fifth column annoyance can disrupt projects that would benefit most people

Living under the whims of a handful of stupid NIMBYs is also close to tyranny.