Are electronic payments the gateway to freedom? Not so, claim the proponents of cash. While electronic payments do enable to make payments at anytime, anywhere, they have inherent limits to the liberty they offer. Cash is simply ownedn regardless of external factor. Power shortages, be they on the power grid or simply a dead phone battery, will have no effect whatsoever on a person's capacity to conduct financial operations in cash. This argument is even more valid in rural areas where internet access can be haphazard, or in the poorer segments of the population. Toby Mayjes warns that: "there are people on the fringes of society who are so reliant on it, that a life without it almost seems like an impossibility. Yet, there is a growing awareness amongst the homeless and those that support them that action needs to be taken now so they are ready when the time comes. For those with no fixed abode there are a huge array of different hurdles that need to be jumped in order for them to live a life not wholly reliant on cash."
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Should we pay attention to ethics and personal rights in Cashless Economies?
