Cash is King: Optus Crash Shows the Dangers of a Central Bank Digital Currency By James Reed
The media coverage last week of the Optus meltdown that left cities almost grinding to a halt, did not focus on the real problem here, not the odd bod not being able to get his coffee. The only real saviours were other networks still working, and cash. Malcolm Roberts has given a superb speech on this issue as illustrating the threat that removing cash and establishing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will bring.
The government’s Identification Verification Services Bill itself will make it irresistible for hackers due to the centralisation of data. As Roberts rightly notes: “If the government centralises the private data it collects from citizens, on-sells the records to the commercial market while simultaneously mandating the use of digitised personal records within the economy, it will be installing digital socialism. A digital prison no less. Government and its parasitic billionaire mates want to become the middlemen of all transactions between customers and businesses.”
I have not seen a definitive explanation of the Optus meltdown. One hypothesis is that it was due to an internal fault in upgrading software. Hacking is rejected as an explanation by the mainstream media, and perhaps this is so; if it was, would we be told this? But nothing prevents hacking to occur in the future, perhaps as a prelude to global war. Imagine being on a Central Bank Digital Currency, and that which happened to Optus happened to all the networks! The chaos would be of Hollywood disaster movie proportions.
At the end of the day, cash is king.
“I called on the Treasurer to use his regulatory powers to ensure banks stop removing cash and stop closing branches and ATMs. The Optus outage reminds us that persisting with a single digital identity linked to a digital currency as the only approved payment mechanism is insanity.
How did we get here? The current concept of a ‘digital identity’ was originally dreamed up at a 2015 World Economic Forum conference in collaboration with Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company.
If the government’s Identification Verification Services Bill passes it will not only open the door to hackers, but it will also offer them the key. A single data file will make identity theft easier. If the government centralises the private data it collects from citizens, on-sells the records to the commercial market while simultaneously mandating the use of digitised personal records within the economy, it will be installing digital socialism. A digital prison no less.
Government and its parasitic billionaire mates want to become the middlemen of all transactions between customers and businesses. One Nation says NO!
As a servant to the many different people who make up our one Queensland community, I draw attention to yesterday’s Optus outage. Payment terminals using the Optus network went down, requiring businesses to close or accept cash payments. The Optus failure makes a mockery of our arrogant, lying, profit-gouging banks’ campaign to totally remove cash from our society and to remove bank branches. I call on the Treasurer to use his regulatory powers to ensure banks do not remove cash from one more branch, do not close one more branch and do not close one more ATM. Anything less is asking for trouble the next time the internet goes down.
The Optus failure reminds Australia of the insanity of persisting with a single digital identity linked to a digital currency as the only approved payment mechanism. What happens if the government’s Identity Verification Services Bill passes and these myriad identification services are replaced with one central government run digital ID, complete with your biometric data? It will be a hacker’s paradise, with everything hackers need for identity theft and fraud located in a single data file. All that’s missing from the government’s digital ID plans is a massive sign saying, ‘Hack me!’ With digital ID, the government is not protecting us from identity theft; it’s making identity theft easier. If digital ID and digital currency are implemented, the next time Optus or Telstra go down, every Australian’s life stops. There will be no transport, no telephone, no keeping track of children and no buying anything. The government is creating a pinch point every time the internet goes down—a chokehold that comes at a terrible human and economic cost.
The government’s predatory billionaire mates are salivating at the control that digital ID and digital currency will give these parasites. The government and its parasitic billionaire mates aren’t good enough to make the technology work. It’s going to stuff everything up and screw everyday Australians and small businesses. To a digital prison, One Nation says no.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/cash-still-remains-king-5526129
Comments