Facebook Currency, 2

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

mantra	found (2)	break (3)
media	giant (2)	set sights
set off	target (2)	announce
Libra	currency	frightening
allow	location	bank account
privacy	issue (3)	practice (2)
access	stable (2)	co-founder
crypto-	mystery	surround (2)
alert	red alert	launch (2)
claim	field (2)	off the bat
cash	scrutiny	emphasize
initially	ability (2)	legitimate
version	sound (2)	competition
set up	server (2)	progressive
intense	mine (3)	gold standard
asset	back up	monopoly
exclude	fluctuate	real world
effect	ripple (2)	ramification
intend	back (3)	consequence
data	separate	track record
criticize	check (2)	sort of (2)
trust	tough (2)

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Facebook’s mantra, since it was founded, has been move fast and break things. Now the social media giant has its sights set on a new target: how we buy and sell things.

This week Facebook announced plans to launch Libra, a global digital currency, with backing from such companies as Paypal, Uber, Visa and MasterCard. Libra would allow users without bank accounts or credit cards to shop online.

But the plan comes as Facebook finds itself under intense scrutiny for its privacy practices. Here to talk about it is CNET Section Editor, Dan Ackerman.

Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook calls this plan, just off the bat, “frightening”. And I think part of it is the mystery surrounding it all.

How does this work?

Dan Ackerman, CNET Section Editor: “There’s a lot of mystery surrounding it. It’s a crypto-currency. It sets off a red alert to a lot of people.

The way it would initially work is through something like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, which they really, really, really want everybody to use all the time.

You’d be able to send this Libra currency — it’s not quite the same as bitcoin and other crypto-currencies because it’s controlled by a central governing authority; it’s Facebook and twenty-eight other companies.

So even if we are talking about “Facebook Money” and people are calling it “Zuck Bucks”, they claim there is going to be just one partner out of many.

Newscaster: “Why do they want to do this? Why do they getting into this?”

Dan Ackerman, CNET Section Editor: “You know the reason they give is actually a good, useful and important one: a lot of people out there do not have credit cards, do not have access to regular bank accounts or checking accounts.

And frankly they’re excluded from a lot of modern life — you go to half the coffee shops here in New York and they don’t take cash anymore. And if you don’t have a credit card or debit card, what are you going to do?

The ability to use your phone to pay for something. And not only in the US, but other countries around the world — that’s a legitimate purpose.

Newscaster: When people hear about digital currency, they still think of bitcoin first. So how is bitcoin doing right now and how does the field look in general when it comes to the competition for digital currency?

Dan Ackerman, CNET Section Editor: It certainly sounds like Facebook’s version of bitcoin. And even though they’re both crypto-currencies, they’re different. People have these giant server farms set up in icy locations to mine bitcoin and that’s getting progressively harder over the years. And it’s not really centrally controlled.

This is much, much more traditional; almost like being on the gold standard, backed up by actual real-world assets. And tied to certain currencies and the values of those assets, so it should be more stable than bitcoin, or other crypto-currencies which can fluctuate up and down greatly, which means they are not really that useful in the real world.

Newscaster: Facebook has already been criticized for being somewhat of a monopoly in the tech world. What are the ramifications of them having this kind of control and have they really looked at the ripple effects here?

Dan Ackerman, CNET Section Editor: If you look up “unintended consequences” in the dictionary you’re going to find a big picture of Facebook, and maybe of Twitter and a few other of these guys.

The idea of Facebook controlling money seems very frightening. They say that this data will be kept entirely separate from your social media data, but the company doesn’t have the greatest track record in that sort of thing, which is one of the reasons why they are emphasizing “This is not Facebook; this is Libra” which is a separate organization controlled by all these separate companies, but these are like MasterCard, Visa and Uber, companies that also have data-privacy issues.

Newscaster: Facebook is trying to win everybody’s trust back now.
Newscaster 2: Trying, trying, trying.
Newscaster: That’s a tough one.

 

 

Questions

1. Facebook is a complacent corporation that prefers the status quo. True or false?

2. Is this a sole venture by Facebook, according to its announcement?

3. Is the Libra the same as bitcoin? What are the difference between the Libra and bitcoin?

4. Officially, why is Facebook launching this crypto-currency?

5. Libra transactions can only take place in the United States. Is this correct or incorrect?

6. Everyone is happy and enthusiastic about Facebook’s crypto-currency. Is this right or wrong?

7. Has Facebook done anything to allay people’s fears and suspicions?
 
 
A. How do your friends shop, pay for purchases and transfer money?

B. Has it been changing over the years?

C. What do you and your friends think of Facebook’s new crypto-currency?

D. I find all these crypto-currencies, online transactions, credit cards, mobile app payments, QR-codes and e-payments bewildering. Yes or on?

E. How do governments, banks, stores, Visa, MasterCard, Paypal and bitcoin feel about Libra?

F. Should people do anything? What should they do?

G. What might happen in the future?