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Snakeadelic · 06-04-2017, 08:21 AM

And what's actually up my proverbial butt today is this:

Okay, so a major restaurant chain, Chipotle (where my neighbor's parents eat at least once a week, often with other family members; we don't have one in this county and I'm not sure about the rest of the state), just announced a massive data theft from non-chip card readers. This has, understandably, weakened faith in the security of ANY system involving magnetic-strip cards (like the bank card I have, because my bank can't afford chip cards yet).

Also like my EBT benefits card, which is how I access my (no doubt doomed by this latest federal budget gutting all such programs for military and border wall spending) food stamps, aka SNAP benefits.

The state just decided it'd be a brilliant plan to require SNAP recipients to sign up with a THIRD PARTY, non-state-run website in order to be able to check their balance online.

For most people, it's annoying. For me, it's panic-attack-triggering. I'm supposed to trust some 3rd party, whose Terms of Service I read and really didn't find myself comfortable with, to track how I use federally-issued benefits? They already had that contained in a tidy little state-run app that's been working great for SIX YEARS. Now, despite the fact that the dental "surgery" last fall has permanently damaged my hearing even more, I get to start using the (unladylike words) automated operator before I can go food shopping. Every time I need to go food shopping, which is like twice a week when I'm still dealing with 3 different medically restricted diets on my shopping list! And between my terrible timing with conversations by phone and my hearing loss, it's the phone or hope nobody hacks this third-party benefit tracker!

06-04-2017, 08:21 AM	#1516
Snakeadelic Banned Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 660	And what's actually up my proverbial butt today is this: Okay, so a major restaurant chain, Chipotle (where my neighbor's parents eat at least once a week, often with other family members; we don't have one in this county and I'm not sure about the rest of the state), just announced a massive data theft from non-chip card readers. This has, understandably, weakened faith in the security of ANY system involving magnetic-strip cards (like the bank card I have, because my bank can't afford chip cards yet). Also like my EBT benefits card, which is how I access my (no doubt doomed by this latest federal budget gutting all such programs for military and border wall spending) food stamps, aka SNAP benefits. The state just decided it'd be a brilliant plan to require SNAP recipients to sign up with a THIRD PARTY, non-state-run website in order to be able to check their balance online. For most people, it's annoying. For me, it's panic-attack-triggering. I'm supposed to trust some 3rd party, whose Terms of Service I read and really didn't find myself comfortable with, to track how I use federally-issued benefits? They already had that contained in a tidy little state-run app that's been working great for SIX YEARS. Now, despite the fact that the dental "surgery" last fall has permanently damaged my hearing even more, I get to start using the (unladylike words) automated operator before I can go food shopping. Every time I need to go food shopping, which is like twice a week when I'm still dealing with 3 different medically restricted diets on my shopping list! And between my terrible timing with conversations by phone and my hearing loss, it's the phone or hope nobody hacks this third-party benefit tracker!