[colemickens]

How does this argument come up every time? If I can't have absolute privacy, I should just give up? The same way I'd love to give up every last bit of dependence on Google, I'd love to get decentralized fintech. But the popular one is a bad word that starts with B and I fear has spoiled the well. (Though it's been interesting traveling through Europe and seeing Bitcoin signs all over Prague, the ticket machine offering bitcoin top up at the Bern train station, and a tradesman/construction worker wearing a Bitcoin advocacy shirt while walking to the beach in Bern today. And don't get me started on how much time I've spent triple-re-verifying my identity with Mastercard or waiting 5+ days for critical ACH transactions.)

[d1zzy]

No but there's a good argument there in terms of priorities.

What is more likely to impact you negatively: Google building an internal profile based on your information and targeting ads based on it or your card information being stolen from insecure smaller vendors?

Obviously those 2 choices are picked arbitrarily but they may explain why the OP chose to prefer the former over the latter. I would think every time we decide to share some of our information we do so because we stand to gain something (otherwise why do it) and it's up to us to decide if what we stand to lose is worth it. As technically minded people we tend to be more focused on technical problems and what we consider more dangerous may be more related to our familiarity with the subject matter rather than the objective potential negative impact it has.

[colemickens]

I mean, "my card information being stolen" is literally only an issue because credit card companies won't force US retailers to accept proper chip and pin. It just is not an issue everywhere I've been in Europe because it is categorically impossible for them to steal my card information with contactless payments.

As for the magnitude of privacy invasion regarding financial transactions, I feel very safe in saying the data Google has about/from me is far more revealing than relatively opaque transaction logs.

[pessimizer]

Google is worse without question. Having your card number stolen is a minor inconvenience whose danger is inflated by services offering to protect you from it. Happened to me once, they charged $1500 before my credit union called me. I had to spend a total of an hour on the phone with a few different people, and the money was credited back to my account within 48 hours. This is with a debit card, which are constantly subject to FUD on this issue from the vendors of credit cards.