Publicity or Privacy: which do you want?
The concept of KYC in crypto sometimes feels Counterproductive, because it sometimes defeats the idea of privacy. Many people choose crypto because they don't want to be doxxed, pay tax or have their money traceable to them.
There are crypto exchanges that requires you to do the most stupid things all in the name of KYC. Some will ask you to hold your ID close to your face, which feels like a mugshot, and you may feel powerless to resist them.
On the other hands the exchange will say they're trying to stop any attempt to use crypto for criminal activities.
Of course, we know that the concept of Blockchain, like anything else in life, can be abused, but there are regular people who simply want to avoid the spotlight, not because they are criminals, but because they prefer it that way.
Evm-compatible privacy
Take a look at Ethereum for example, you can easily tie an identity of an Ethereum wallet address to an individual, especially if you've seen such address used by that person. You can now use etherscan to track their address. I understand that this is not as simple, unless you can prove that a wallet address belongs to an individual.
My point is we cannot get 100% privacy on this space, once an identity is tied to an account, it's easy to predict the behavior of that account in respite to whoever owns it.
On Hive, anyone can choose to or not to share their picture especially if they don't want to be doxxed or they don't want their faces associated to their on-chain personality. However, this is not the only way to dox someone. Hive creates complicated and complex ways of identifying, and it does not even require your face.
The on-chain footprint or activities of everyone is visible and the statistics is how you can tie a peculiar behavior to an account. For example, we can predict an individual's Curation pattern based on what they do with their Hive, who they transfer it to and where they send it, whether they are gaming on Hive, keeping their stake, or simply powering it down. These activities can have an impact on curation, downvoting, and even on-chain shaming and association. This is a method of doxxing that does not even require anyone to reveal their face.
What is your (KINETIC) (E)NERGY?
If you understand what I mean, are you smart
A few days ago a certain metric became available on Hive, anyone could just open up your profile and see it, and that metric alone might decided if they want to do what they came over to your profile to do.
Someone immediately messaged me and asked me to explain what that metric means; I quickly drafted accounts and explained it to her.
This metric has elicited mixed feelings among Hive users. Some people want it; others don't. Some people believe it exposes their nakedness, while others are simply relieved that they do not have to undress another Hive user to see them for who they are.
I have read a lot of arguments, and some of them make me laugh.
It just shows the level of fear
In reality, more people dislike this. It appears that there is a lack of privacy; people want to be able to do their business without being seen; however, the Blockchain has the ability to dox people's behavior, and some individuals want to take full advantage of this.
There is no on-chain privacy on Hive, but the privacy it provides is off-chain.
But is this a bad thing? No. The benefits outweighs the negatives
Although you can choose to keep your identity completely private, you cannot hide your on-chain footprints, and this is often exploited, especially since an action can be linked to an individual account by simply looking through. With this new metric, some users are realizing that there is nothing hidden from the Blockchain's god-like eye.
This fear is mostly because of questions like "can I still get upvoted? Will I attract a downvote, will I lose engagement or supporters?" A lot of people are asking these questions and it simply makes them panic.
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An interesting thing to consider in all this is the ultimate contradiction of pretty much everything we do.
Consider this: we are part of something that passes for "social media," yet we want privacy. By extension, what we're saying is we want to be seen but we also don't want to be seen, at the same time. Well, which is it?
Some of this is like the old conundrum of somebody saying they are "a little bit pregnant." No you're not! You either are, or you're not.
If you want privacy and you don't want to be seen, then don't participate in a public venue where your effectiveness depends on being seen!
Of course few people are willing to look directly at this, because they want their toast buttered on both sides.
This is our reality with Blockchain and decentralization. In summary, we want to have our cake and eat it, unfortunately we can only take a little element here and there, and the idea of the perfect internet will only exist in our mind and cannot become a reality.
On Hive there are downsides and advantages to everything we have here, and some people will like it, some other people will not. It's a proof that nothing can be perfect, but it'll be fine if the benefit outweighs the negatives.
It's the entire crypto space, but some people will get angry because they think it's only peculiar to Hive.
Thanks for the comment
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The other day I stumble across a privacy project for Hive, had to do with a stable coin too although I think you cant have your cake and eat it, by now I find hard that Hive adopts any privacy features, everything seeems so transparent for son long and the fact that people can see all your movements and that new metric just makes it easier for everyone to monitor each other. I understand why some people aren't comfortable with that but it helps maintain fairness because you can see who's really putting in the effort and who's just there to take what they can and leave, I think if you want to use something like Hive you're giving up some of your privacy in exchange for more transparency and as long as you know what you're getting into it's not a problem.
Brilliant comment. I agree. Some people aren't comfortable, I for one, I'm not comfortable with it, but since it's only on peakD then it's all good. On Hive like you've said you've got to give up some of your on-chain privacy, since it's not real life privacy then it doesn't really matter.
On the other hand inasmuch as I don't like that KE metric, it still helps sometimes to know who's in or who isn't in, sometimes it can also help to give support to those who are more dedicated and willing to grow and also support other, but I still think there was no need for it.
So far it's just over on PeakD, and it's just another thing. However, I rarely use PeakD to be honest. I just don't think it's necessary. Does it show people who are milking Hive and not reinvesting, maybe... But it doesn't account for second layer investments, only Hive. I noticed some people who are pure milkers have scores over 10, so in that aspect maybe it lets you decide do I want my vote to be cashed out only?
I prefer decentralized as do most of us, but Hive really isn't decentralized completely and never will be!
It's on peakD yes. I think the concept is to make people's buying or selling of Hive activities plain in sight by just looking at a score. I for one don't really think this is necessary as it bring shaming, but since it's one on frontend, and not completely over the place, then it's all good. I don't use peakD so much except for posting.
It doesn't show second layer, just Hive actually. In my opinion, I want to see how this will turn out. Over 10 of course is crazy milking, I think anything from 1 to 5 is decent.
Sometimes?
One of the big points for crypto (if not the biggest): If you own the keys, you own the coins.
KYC means I have to trust a third party. Some person, agent, ...whatever.
A different matter; A lot of people choose to reveal all their personal information on Hive. (Or advertise their wallet adress somehow with other crypto)
You could be entirely pseudonymous here on Hive...
So, to answer the title: KYC is the opposite of what I am here for.
This is true, you can, and one of the proof is that I haven't seen your face, or know your name, but I still have a vivid identity of who you are based on your on-chain personality.
Quick one: what do you think of the concept of the KE ratio?
I have often checked an author's total earnings and compared it to their HP.
I have basically checked the KE ratio before it was even given a name.
It should not be the only metric to judge an author or content by, though.
Sometimes it would be better to only judge the content of the piece, regardless of the author.
Should KE be part of the interface, like on peakd? I think it's not elegant to put it next to an author's name...
I wouldn't have done it that way. It's kind of handy to have quick access to it, though.
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KYC is annoying, but its a part of the system to exchanges. I guess they just want to avoid the legal backlash from all of that as they are out in the open.
As for the chain, I think its a part of the system. Anything you do here is tracked to an extent. You can't blame people for looking at what you did.
Yeah, Hive is built to be transparent and transactions are meant to be trackable. I guess it's not everyone who likes this feature. The KE thingy makes it obvious.
Even with the new innovation all over the world a crime or scam is now traceable if it is carried out on exchanges like binance or coinbase, i think unknowingly to people the KYC idea was brought to have every information of a holder incase he is involved in scam his details can be easily fetched out by the authorities if investigated.
Yes, yes, that is the idea of KYC: to have details of registered accounts in case of criminal activities.
no wonder then no where is safe to keep money except when buried
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Interesting take on privacy in crypto! Do you think complete anonymity is sustainable in the long run?"
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