Critical review of KLARNA

content/blog/wk13day3.md

@@ -20,6 +20,34 @@ is sending ethernet frames (perhaps spanning tree, or LLDP, or some other traffi
 those two new members to the peeringlan. I'm sure the reseller will eventually figure it out, so I
 move on.
 
+Marina has some news - she (and I) are avid users of a program called _Stocard_, which allows us to
+store our loyalty cards like from Migros, Coop, Safeway, and so on. When we walk into the store,
+thanks to geolocation it pops up the card automatically. It's a lot easier (and leaner for your
+wallet!) to make use of an app like this. And I liked _Stocard_ because it is _just an app_, by
+which I mean: no need for complicated accounts, logins and all of that. An account in _Stocard_ is
+optional, in case you want to make a backup of your cards in the cloud, which can be useful if you
+change phones. I myself did not have that feature, because I still have the original card of course.
+
+{{< image src="/img/dollar.png" float="left" width="6em" >}}
+
+Stocard betrayed its users. It sold itself to _Klarna_, some Swedish fintech company that provides
+online financial services. I'm sure the Stocard people made a lot of money. Klarna has now put a
+butter bar on the Stocard app (both for Marina on Android and for me on iPhone) that you **MUST**
+register with Klarna. They also inform us that our application will be destroyed in fourteen days.
+When logging in, they want _waaaay_ too much personal data: phone number, e-mail, age, gender,
+address, country, and what-not.
+
+Hey assholes: I don’t need another loan service, I don’t want another credit card, I don’t want
+unnecessary ads for stores that I don’t even know or use. And I have no idea why they decided it
+would be a good idea to get rid of the option to add loyalty cards to my Apple wallet or a widget. 
+
+A good alternative is SuperCards, Catima, or the one I chose [[Mobile
+Pocket](https://www.mobile-pocket.com/en/)] -- which, once again, is just an application for which I
+do not need to hand over my entire online history to some random fintech jackass company.  Just look
+at this utterly embarrassing "privacy" statement from that fintech bank
+[[ref](https://www.karmanow.com/privacy)].  I recommend you *never* use Stocard or any Klarna
+application, if you value your online identity and privacy.
+
 At 15:00 we make our way to the Zurich Airport. I'm still very pleased that we settled in
 Br&uuml;ttisellen, which is to the NorthEast of Zurich city, and about 8km (5mi) away from the
 airport. It's easy to get there by bus, train, car and bike. I've even jogged to and from it from