January 10, 2020
Dear Everyone:
Shortly before last Christmas my cell phone began stalking me.
I’m not exactly sure how it got started, but I can make a guess.
Every week or so, the phone would notify me that there were a
number of upgrades waiting to be run.
This could range from one or two to a couple of dozen.
If I had nothing else going on, I would typically tell the phone
to go ahead and run them.
My phone, by the way, is a Samsung Galaxy S9, about a year-and-a-half
old. Shortly after all the
upgrades ran, up popped something called “Samsung Pay”.
This is an app (short for “application”, which actually means a
computer program) which can be used to make credit card payments at
various establishments which feature the Near Field Communications
capability.
All I had to do was enter my credit card(s), and/or debit card(s)
information, and activate the account.
After that, I could make payments simply by waving my phone over
the receiver at the store.
Simple, right?
Let me tell you something about my phone.
If I’m at home, it sits on a stand in the kitchen.
If it needs charging, it sits in the wireless charger, also in
the kitchen. If I’m out and
about, the phone sits inside a zippered compartment in my bag.
I’m not exactly going to wave a seven-pound bag over the NFC receiver.
That wouldn’t work anyway, as the app requires that you tap an
authorization for the transaction to take place.
So, I’d have to unzip the compartment, pull out the phone, etc.
So how is that different from pulling out the credit card wallet?
Besides, there are dozens of news stories, and TV programs,
featuring unsavory characters with electronic “skimmers” to read your
information in passing and use it for nefarious reasons.
Consequently, I never started the Samsung Pay app in the first place.
I simply closed it and ignored it.
Apparently, Samsung Pay is not an app to be ignored.
I went into a national chain store for one thing or another.
As I got back into my car, the phone made that chirping sound
that indicates a notification of something such as a new text message,
or something.
The notification was that “Samsung Pay works at (name of the store)!”
A few days later, I was shopping for some emergency blankets at
Recreational Equipment, Inc.
I paid cash, as the total came to less than $12.
Before I even left the store, my phone was exclaiming “Samsung
Pay works at REI!”
I realize that there are people who only use cards for just about
everything. I have a
neighbor, “Phoebe”, who smugly informed me one time that she charges
everything. That way, she
doesn’t have to worry about it.
Her son pays all her bills for her.
When I pointed out that this makes extra work for her son, and
that it costs the merchant 3% of their profit, she just shrugged in that
self-serving way that she has.
While I realized that Samsung Pay was only trying to be helpful, enough
was enough. My phone has no
business offering to do business for me, regardless of where I happen to
be.
I did some online research and quickly found instructions for how to
deal with this feckless app.
Tap on “apps”. Tap on
“Samsung Pay”. Tap on
“Uninstall”. Tap on “Yes”
when the system asks if you really want to uninstall the app.
Keep tapping “Yes” until the system accepts the order and the app
is uninstalled.
End of problem.
Of course, I realize that my phone still knows exactly where I am at all
times; or rather, exactly where it is.
And that it reports my/its location to whatever entity is keeping
track of us all. But I
figure, I’m just one tiny “blip” among billions and not of that great
interest to the Powers That Be.
So long as my phone isn’t constantly informing me of where I’ve
just been, we’ll all be fine.
Love, as always,
Pete
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