Protecting Our Online Privacy Is a Responsibility

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Avatar for Pantera
2 years ago

Complete anonymity is questionable, and only a few can achieve it.

Most of us don't have the tools and knowledge at our disposal to achieve it.

Still, we should always try to make it more difficult, avoid publicizing sensitive information, and not allow our private information to reach the hands of scammers.

Our privacy is our security. The less information we pass to randoms on the internet, the more secure we are.

Still, no matter the protection we apply, an individual with a "certain set of skills " can always trace our identity and private information.

Since our governments already did a lousy job to protect our privacy when they forced the transfer of sensitive private information online through procedures and services that clearly were not secure enough.

The State Can't Protect Our Privacy, Yet It Forces KYC.

The target of scammers is not always us personally. It can be our families, loved ones, and friends.

It is a responsibility, then, since the target of a scam can also be someone else besides ourselves.

Scammers will use leaked someone's private information to extract funds from friends and relatives.

Our private and sensitive information, our biometrics, is also a form of identity and can be used to deceive people close to us. I don't want to expand further on this, but consider what we read and learn (from the news) regarding common scams and their practices.

Personally, I have provided details of my identity to a single person that works for the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem, as there was a proposal I felt I had to examine further, but eventually, I had so many issues going on, and that extra stress would have been a burden. I still have limited time and will probably have to decline most proposals unless the procedure is direct and does not demand a cost from my side (signups to government institutions, reporting income, business accounts, etc.).

The issue here, is that the cost and time needed (e.g. cost of signing up, visits to accountants, government institutions) is too much, while the income is probably not stable or not that significant to justify officially signing up as a freelancer.

If it matters, I won't be anonymous (and I am not for some), in case it creates more trust and leads to opportunities.

Although, I still value anonymity when it comes to the online threats we have to face and how our exposure on the internet can become a danger.

Sometimes, we don't know who's insecurities we could trigger online, and knowing how part of our society behaves, I prefer not to expose private information unless it becomes necessary and a significant opportunity emerges.

In case anyone with a certain set of skills decides to, they can find almost any identity they want and other information since governments have already forced KYC'ed us and often, out of incompetence, leaked our names and private data to the public even without anyone hacking them. This is how the state works anyway, don't expect them to protect your privacy or personal interests. Incompetence at a maximum level.

Concerning Privacy Coins

Concerning cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin Cash, it takes extra steps to reach a higher level of anonymity. It matters for the same reason.

Obfuscation mechanisms exist, yet some do not work properly. It all depends on the techniques used and multiple factors, while issues with some of these services surface occasionally.

Can we be certain of our privacy using privacy coins such as Monero and ZCash?

As users, we have to trust developers who audited the open-source code and concluded anonymity truly is strong in them. However, lets take a look at these issues and bugs of Monero, and lets think about what more could be there that is not public:

Moreover, when Europol claims Monero transactions are untraceable, perhaps being vigilant and suspicious is wiser than cheering.

Some cryptocurrencies claim to have anonymity features, but the claims are refuted with time.

Bitcoin Cash provides pseudonymity on transactions. We are not completely anonymous when transacting with Bitcoin Cash, and the blockchain is transparent. Cashfusion creates a layer of obfuscation, increasing privacy.

Most blockchains are public and open to any researcher to interpret the route of funds, however, this is a difficult task to perform manually with a simple blockchain explorer.

Blockchain analytic tools exist, and can easily connect wallets. Still, most of these tools are not public and come with a cost. Note that I don't suggest downloading random analytics software from google searches, but DYOR if anyone absolutely needs such a tool, which usually comes at a cost as well.

In Conclusion

Online privacy is common sense. Before Facebook, privacy was considered valuable, yet with the influx of billions of users, the websites they found were all invading privacy, as a rule, thus they probably believed this was the correct approach.

For those before the Facebook era, it wasn't, though. We value anonymity, since it gives us peace of mind, even when we know we can't achieve total anonymity.

Perhaps the users of the internet understand today better the issues that can be created, and of course, some have to sell their image and manage to make it a lucrative business.

Everyone has a plan, I guess even when this is just a need for acceptance by strangers online, not for the content we publish, the code we develop, or the creations we want to present, but for anything pointless as the physical appearance.

 Cover Photo: by " Bernard Hermant" on Unsplash


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Avatar for Pantera
2 years ago

Comments

Hi @Pantera, I should be commenting this to you in noisecash but I decided to write it here on readcash. Recently, I have exposed fake people for stealing photos and they have created a telegram group where all of them are roasting me.

I want to tell you that you should be careful in exposing people, because they can make you appear as a bad person. It's very sick to think. I feel so sad that the bitcoincash are only going to the hands of many people who have many account. (Please don't post this comment in noisecash)

$ 0.20
2 years ago

Also, if you could give that telegram group, that would be awesome intel.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

They tried before. I've been exposing them from read.cash and most are now gone. They keep coming back with new accounts though. They can't do anything but only lie. Everybody knows who I am and what I represent. Thanks for the warning.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

You should be very careful. The user @Yasmin is posting a lot about you in noisecash with screenshot. You have to check what he/she is talking.

I feel so stress battling with these people. Funny that they can changed the situation to make it look like we are the villain and they are the protagonist.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Do you really think I care for what a bunch of scammers have to say? They've been exposed all this time. They can only attract other scammers and nobody else.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Who changed the situation? It is just this idiot and his multi accounts.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Bitcoin Cash provides pseudonymity on transactions.Online privacy is common sense.Our private and sensitive information, our biometrics.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Yes, it's up to us to secure our accounts. Even changing passwords from time to time will be great and reading terms and conditions to check and protect privacy

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Hello @Pantera may I know if the seed phrase is already enough to keep our assets or we also need to add another more security? I'm just worried that seed phrase are not enough

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Everyome is entitled to his privacy. It will do us all a lot of good if our privacy is efficiently guarded

$ 0.00
2 years ago