George Fox - COO
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The Thin Veil of Anonymity
We live in a world of innovation where we can reach more human beings on the planet than ever before. The fact that in 4 short months the DePo platform has been able to reach over 144 countries worldwide is a perfect illustration of how well we are all connected.
There is however a trade-off. Large corporations harvest information from us collecting millions of metadata points. This enables them to slowly build up a picture of our online presence, to have the best chance of manipulating us. With all this data they are able to coerce us subconsciously into buying products and even thinking and voting in a specific manner.
This intrusive behaviour by large corporations doesn’t seemingly affect us daily as the way in which this meta data is collected is subtle and delicate.
“I don’t know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower.”
― Banksy
We take huge pleasure in being able to follow influencers and share with the world what we have been up to daily. Tweets, posts, and live streams all build up to create a digital footprint that is exploited daily, yet most of the time we don’t seem to care or give it any second thought, in fact we thrive on likes, follows and compliments.
With the public hearings of Facebook over concerns of illegal data collection, people become more conscious of what their data is worth and how much of what we do is monitored. People have become more fastidious with their private data and with the advent of Web3/DeFi is, in my opinion, supercharging this movement.
Anonymity used to be looked at as a coward’s weapon. The birth of the internet troll and hate speech becoming rife are unfortunately defining characteristics of Web 2.0. People have realized that they can hide behind the veil of anonymity to spout viewpoints that simply wouldn’t be accepted in day-to-day life or would incite a violent response.
People were calling for these people to be ousted to prevent anonymity. These people who spout hate should have to be accountable for their actions! Isn’t that what advanced society preaches, with the rule of law? However, the sentiment in DeFi is that we should have our anonymity protected?
‘You can’t eat your cake and have it too’
Ted Kaczynski
The above quote was ironically what lead to the Unabomber being caught for his reign of terror.
I appreciate this is a very dramatic example of people being held accountable for their actions, but surely, we can’t pick and choose when we wish to remain anonymous? Isn’t this textbook hypocrisy?
On most occasions a DeFi a team that is fully doxxed normally results in a higher level of trust from investors. Why is this? I imagine because it shows that these are real people who are happy to be held accountable for their actions. So, in an industry where people preach about being anonymous, we still demand transparency when it suits us.
As this industry grows and matures, self-reflection and restraint will become more powerful tools and may lend to more credibility.
“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”
― Noam Chomsky, Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World
Last modified 2mo ago
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