oh, but we won’t charge you until your 30 days is up, you can just cancel before then!*
*please forget please forget please let us charge you when you least expect it ohgodplease forget about us you fucking stupid forgetful dope
– how I interpret “free trials” that work like this. You can terminate my service when my trial is up, you do not need my credit card information until I’ve actually agreed to purchase the service. There is literally no practical reason they can’t just do that instead – except, of course, that it makes them more money off of forgotten trial subscriptions.
Also, you can just use a fake name, address and email when signing up so if they verify you as a first-time user on that you can easily bypass and have free trial forever. They can better use the CC details for this verification. And it’s trivial to reject those single-use virtual CCs if they want to. It does actually serve a functional purpose in this case to request CC info.
Of course they definitely still hope you forget too so they can charge you.
Nothing of the sort is mentioned in my comment though.
But FTFY…
everything on the internet that demands your true identity leaks the data.
If its available online somewhere, its only a matter of time before it leaks, true identity or not. If it has potential value, it is a potential target. This is the risk when dealing with anything online. For the record, I also steer clear of free trials that require CC info, for that exact reason. I was just pointing out that it also serves an actual function and purpose in this case and isn’t purely data hoarding.
– how I interpret “free trials” that work like this. You can terminate my service when my trial is up, you do not need my credit card information until I’ve actually agreed to purchase the service. There is literally no practical reason they can’t just do that instead – except, of course, that it makes them more money off of forgotten trial subscriptions.
Also, you can just use a fake name, address and email when signing up so if they verify you as a first-time user on that you can easily bypass and have free trial forever. They can better use the CC details for this verification. And it’s trivial to reject those single-use virtual CCs if they want to. It does actually serve a functional purpose in this case to request CC info.
Of course they definitely still hope you forget too so they can charge you.
So you’re saying they’re gonna leak your data too
I’m not sure where you read me writing or suggesting that in my comment…could you point it out to me?
Because everything on the internet that demands your true identity leaks the data.
Nothing of the sort is mentioned in my comment though.
But FTFY…
If its available online somewhere, its only a matter of time before it leaks, true identity or not. If it has potential value, it is a potential target. This is the risk when dealing with anything online. For the record, I also steer clear of free trials that require CC info, for that exact reason. I was just pointing out that it also serves an actual function and purpose in this case and isn’t purely data hoarding.
I’m not disagreeing with you, just pointing out the inevitable consequence of this reasoning.