In any case, "good bot" doesn't refer to best practices such as rejecting suppliers with antiquated auth and guiding users to others, it refers to not being intentionally malicious and acting as users' agents instead.
Your bank is the entity you're ultimately upset with, don't malign a company that generated a _very good solution_ to a _huge problem_ and THEN worked with their industry peers to cajole these huge banks to let you have access to your data how you want to use it. Before Yodlee and Plaid came around there was a snowballs chance in hell I could ever hope to get at my banking transactions in an API and now I can, and in many cases I never have to give supply my banking credentials to anyone but my bank.
There is not a physical gun pointed at my head, but an increasing amount of digital online interactions are solely gated by Plaid. I've run into plenty cases where I simply had no choice, for example dealing with landlords.
And you already know how long it takes for financial systems to evolve once in place, as evidenced by your own frustration for them not embracing APIs and digital sovereignty. So once a solution like Plaid is in place, we're normalizing this kind of man-in-the-middle security nightmare for generations to come. Even if Plaid's founders did not have malicious intent, the company will eventually change hands to someone less ethical, and the door is open for other companies to seek the same kind of relationships with end users. If not malicious, Plaid is brazenly reckless and short-sighted.
And regardless... I as a consumer do not want to hand over my passwords to a man in the middle, I'm already angry enough at the security and password restrictions I encounter now with financial institutions. If I am in a position where I cannot rent a home or make an important purchase without interacting with a company like Plaid, where is my digital sovereignty?
What's that? They don't? Guess I'll just have to give Plaid my password then. Stupid banks.
btw this is the exact same way Facebook got people to migrate off MySpace.
Not sure banks are the best example for this discussion, though, since banks have legitimate reasons to secure and promote security of their accounts that is beyond simple IT resource usage.
> Guess I'll just have to give Plaid my password then.
Learned helplessness, trading digital sovereignty for convenience. There is a larger war being fought here that is bigger than you or me. Had Plaid not been forced upon me, I would never have used it willingly.
