222 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
222 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
# Directory of US brokerage firms
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## Whitelist
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The following brokerages have no significant ethical issues:
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| *brokerage* | *ALEC member* | *sensitive info exposed to CloudFlare* | *supported CISPA* | *forced drug testing of staff* | *notes* |
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|[Greenvest](https://greenvest.com)|n|n|n|n|RIRA; min. investment to avoid fees: $100k; [B corp](https://bcorporation.net/directory/greenvest)|
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|[Rich Uncles](https://richuncles.com)|n|n|n|n|Real estate investing only|
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## Graylist
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These brokerages would normally be blacklisted, but due to the short
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whitelist they are set aside as a less evil compromise to those
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blacklisted. They should still be avoided if possible.
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| *brokerage* | *ALEC member* | *sensitive info exposed to CloudFlare* | *supported CISPA* | *forced drug testing of staff* | *notes* |
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|[E*Trade](https://us.etrade.com)|n|n|🕵|n|covers: Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States; funding bonus ($5k=>$50; $10k=>$100; $20k=>$150)|
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|[Finhabits](https://www.finhabits.com)|n|n|n|n|[B corp](https://bcorporation.net/directory/finhabits); Hosted on Google Cloud; outsources to Apex; uses Equifax for address verification|
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|[InteractiveBrokers](https://interactivebrokers.com)|n|n|n|n|min. investment to avoid fees: $100k per account; has a "impact" feature to analyze the portfolio's ESG factors w.r.t. the user's ethical views; covers Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States; website is **partially Tor-hostile** but the site can be avoided for most operations after sign-up|
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|[Janus Henderson](https://www.janushenderson.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; |
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|[nvstr](https://www.nvstr.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; maintenance fee: $4/month; promos: $15-150 for funding, random bonus awards, referral bonuses|
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|[Robinhood](https://robinhood.com/us/en/)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; [Fined $65M](https://nypost.com/2020/12/17/sec-slaps-robinhood-app-with-65m-fine-for-misleading-users) for misleading users; They may have used CloudFlare in the past but apparently that changed|
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|[Stash](https://stash.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; no mutual funds; no options; no crypto; maintenance fee: $1/month|
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|[tastyworks](https://tastyworks.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; TIRA; RIRA; no forex; no crypto; no non-US stocks; open/close fee= $0/0; commission=$5/stock trade (closing trades gratis), $1/option trade; promo: funding (100 shares [$1-6ea, avg:$200-220]), referral=$75|
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|[TradeStation](https://www.tradestation.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; crypto; min. invest=$500 ($2k for bonus); open/close fee= $0/0; commission=$0.50/option trade; commission=$0-5/stock trade|
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|[Vanguard](https://investor.vanguard.com)|n|n|n|🧪||
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|[Webull](https://www.webull.com)|n|n|n|n|**Amazon AWS-hosted**; TIRA; RIRA; crypto; no forex|
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### Rationale for graylist inclusion
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Brokerage firms are graylisted here if their sole ethical problem is
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hosting on Amazon AWS. Amazon is behind
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[countless evils](rap_sheets/amazon.md). It's paramount to boycott
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Amazon for anyone who cares about human rights, privacy, or the
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environment. Amazon also has had several data breaches-- Capital One,
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Juspay, Swiggy, etc., so it's a bad idea to trust custodians who use
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AWS with the security of your money.
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Exceptionally, E-Trade, Finhabits, InteractiveBrokers, and Vanguard do
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not use AWS but they are still graylisted. E-Trade supported CISPA, a
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bill to bypass the 4th amendment to promote unwarranted information
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sharing with the government. Finhabits outsources address verification
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to Equifax.
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<details>
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<summary>The problem with Equifax</summary>
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Equifax is the most reckless of all four credit bureaus with sensitive
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credit data. A data breach of sensitive consumer records to the tune
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of ~150 million Americans was leaked as a result of reckless security
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procedures. The lawsuit yielded a disproportionately tiny settlement
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by which most Americans were not compensated, even though they never
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consented to Equifax collecting the data to begin with. Of those who
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received compensation, most did not receive cash, but rather credit
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protection service which ultimately feeds more money back into the
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credit bureaus.
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</details>
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InteractiveBrokers is graylisted due to blocking Tor users from
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accessing some of the web features.
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Vanguard is graylisted due to forcing employees to take a drug test,
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which is an assault on their privacy outside the workplace as well as
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a hinderance to healthcare.
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## Blacklist
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These brokerages have severe ethical or trust issues and should be boycotted.
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| *brokerage* | *ALEC member* | *sensitive info exposed to CloudFlare* | *supported CISPA* | *forced drug testing of staff* | *notes* |
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|Ally|n|n|🕵|n|whole site is Tor-hostile (403 error)|
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|Axos Invest|n|🌩|n|n|Amazon AWS-hosted; Axos Bank is jailed in CloudFlare and Axos Invest will be soon. Investors who get blocked by that will have to pay $5/month for paper statements.|
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|Betterment|n|n|n|n|Imposes hCAPTCHA just to read the landing page. They censor posts in their Reddit sub that complains about this instead of offering support.|
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|Ellevest|n|🌩|n|n|
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|Euro Pacific Capital|n|🌩|n|n|
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|FUTU|n|n|n|n|support.fututrade.com is CloudFlared; no web app; mobile app is GPS-iOS-only; desktop is Mac/Windows only|
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|Firstrade|n|n|n|n|whole site is Tor-hostile (468 error)|
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|Fundrise|n|n|n|n|Amazon AWS-hosted; Unavoidable CAPTCHAs|
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|Gatsby|n|n|n|n|no web app; no desktop app; mobile app is GPS-iOS-only|
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|Lightspeed|n|🌩|n|n||
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|M1 Finance|n|🌩|n|n|They censor posts in their Reddit sub that expose the risks of passing sensitive financial data through CloudFlare.|
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|Merrill Edge|n|n|n|🧪|Owned by one of the [most evil](us_banks.md) banks in the world (Bank of America)|
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|Prudential|👌|n|🕵|🧪|
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|Siebert|n|🌩|n|n||
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|SoFi|n|🌩|n|n|They censor posts in their Reddit sub that expose the risks of passing sensitive financial data through CloudFlare; also [caught](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/10/online-student-loan-refinance-company-sofi-settles-ftc-charges) in a deceptive advertizing scandal.|
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|Sogotrade|n|🌩|n|n||
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|Stockpile|n|🌩|n|n|
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|TD Ameritrade|n|n|n|n|Majority owned by Charles Schwab, a firm that [supports](us_banks.md) republicans, CISPA, drug tests their staff, and treats Tor users with hostility (but note that TDA functions over Tor). Schwab outsources banking operations to PNC bank, which is [quite evil](us_banks.md); [Uses MS Github to host s/w](https://github.com/TDAmeritrade/stumpy)|
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|TIAA-CREF|n|n|n|n|Whole site is Tor-hostile|
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|Tradingblock|n|🌩|n|n|
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|Wealthfront|n|n|n|n|Registration imposes Google reCAPTCHA; [caught](https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/US-regulator-sanctions-robo-advisers-Wealthfront-Hedgeable-on-false-disclosures-575044) making false disclosures and [charged](https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/12/21/bay-area-robo-adviser-firm-wealthfront-charged-by-sec-with-false-advertising) for false advertising.|
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|Wealthsimple|n|🌩|n|n|
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|Wellstrade|n|n|🕵|🧪|Owned by Wells Fargo, an [evil](us_banks.md) bank.|
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|Zackstrade|n|🌩|n|n|
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### Rationale for blacklist inclusion
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#### Tor hostility (Ally, Firsttrade, and TIAA-CREF)
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Banks and brokerages that are aggressively Tor-hostile are
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automatically blacklisted.
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<details>
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<summary>Why brokerage access over Tor matters</summary>
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If Tor were used exclusively for anonymity, it would be useless in the
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context of consumers accessing and controlling their financial
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accounts. But that's not the case. Tor prevents your ISP from
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snooping on where you bank. ISPs collect data on their own customers
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and exploit it for profit in the US. Under Obama it became illegal
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for an ISP to sell data collected on their customers without express
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consent. As if that's not already useless thanks to an abundant supply
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of consumers who will agree to anything without reading it, Trump
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<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-signs-measure-let-isps-sell-your-data-without-consent-n742316">reversed</a>
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Obama's policy in 2017 to render consumers completely powerless. Tor
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is a free tool to protect from excessive disclosure of where your
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assets are. Thus when a bank or brokerage blocks Tor, it prevents you
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from taking basic self-defense measures. This trend undermines the
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supplier-client relationship whereby we expect the supplier to serve
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the customer's interest. It's not just anti-privacy, it's
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anti-consumer.
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Non-Tor users generally reveal their physical location to their bank
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every time they login. If all banks didn't care where you reside,
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this wouldn't be a problem. But some banks care more than others and
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beyond reason. For nomads/world travelers banks can make their lives
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hell if their profile doesn't seem to match up with their lifestyle.
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Some banks will close an account if a customer moves out of their
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service area. If you want to take a job away from home for a year or
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two, Tor gives you the necessary privacy to do that free of hassle and
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nannying.
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</details>
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<details>
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<summary>Why non-Tor users should also boycott Tor adversaries</summary>
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Suppose you never leave home, and you're not bothered if your ISP
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collects data on where you bank to then sell to data brokers who can
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then sell it to debt collectors. If you're ethical nonetheless, then
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you still boycott those who marginalize Tor users. These quotes
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elaborate on that moral duty:
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"*If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the
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side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a
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mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate
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your neutrality.*" --Desmond Tutu
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"*Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you
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have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about
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free speech because you have nothing to say.*" --Edward Snowden
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To expand on Snowden's philosophy, it's extremely selfish to refuse to
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defend a right that others need on the basis that you don't personally
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need it now or in the future. Moreover, indirect benefits should not
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be overlooked. Human rights activists need civil liberties more than
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others, but we all need activists to make the world better for
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everyone. Moral duties to you derive from that.
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Tor is becoming less usable because the growing majority non-Tor users
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are patronizing businesses that marginalize Tor users.
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"*Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively are
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less free.*" --Edward Snowden
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To neglect to use Tor is to subject yourself to unnecessary
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observation. In the context of banking and finance, this in turn
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reduces your freedom of movement.
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</details>
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#### CloudFlare
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Banks and brokerages that proxy their services through CloudFlare are
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blacklisted automatically for taking a profoundly stupid risk with
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consumer's sensitive financial data. CloudFlare holds the SSL keys
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for every connection and sees all the traffic including username and
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unhashed password. CloudFlare has proven to be untrustworthy with
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sensitive information (demonstrated by CloudFlare's doxxing of the
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identities of child porn whistle blowers). Apart from the
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unacceptably high security risk of having a CloudFlare MitM, there are
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countless [ethical problems](rap_sheets/cloudflare.md) with being an
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enabler of CloudFlare.
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#### Forced CAPTCHA (Betterment, Fundrise, and Wealthfront)
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Banks and brokerages that force customers to solve an hCAPTCHA or a
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Google reCAPTCHA are blacklisted automatically. Use of these two
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forms of CAPTCHA have an excessive detrimental consequence on privacy
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and human rights, which is outlined in the
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[CloudFlare rap sheet](rap_sheets/cloudflare.md).
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#### Google Playstore (GPS) / Apple exclusivity (FUTU and Gatsby)
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Banks and brokerages that force customers to obtain software from
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Google Playstore or Apple are blacklisted automatically. Most brokers
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have web access or a desktop app, in which case the mobile app can be
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disregarded because customers have a viable means to avoid the privacy
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abusing walled gardens. But FUTU and Gatsby are a problem. Gatsby
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has no means of access apart from the mobile app, and no APK is
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available on their website or in f-droid.org, so Android users have no
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choice but to buy mobile phone service, trust Google withe their phone
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number, then also trust Google not to tell data brokers where you bank
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and invest. FUTU has a desktop app but only for Mac or Windows, so
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linux users and those who avoid non-free software are stuffed.
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(Caveat: the FUTU Windows app has
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[not been tested on WINE](https://www.winehq.org/search?q=futu) or
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ReactOS)
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#### Bad supply chains (Merrill Edge, TD Ameritrade, and Wellstrade)
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Merrill Edge, TD Ameritrade, and Wellstrade all have ethically
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controversial ownership. Merrill Edge and Wellstrade are simply owned
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by extremely [evil banks](us_banks.md). A large majority of TD
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Ameritrade is owned by Charles Schwab. Schwab is not directly
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involved in the highly controversial financing that other large banks
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are, but Schwab outsources banking to PNC bank, which is quite evil.
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It's important for ethical consumption to consider the whole supply
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chain to the extent of your awareness. When consuming a product or
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service you're not just feeding the immediate customer-facing
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business.
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