I am not afraid of my personal data leak. I explained my opinion in Russian local some years ago, here is the translation
Thank you for sharing these. However, I can not agree with almost anything from what is stated there. It's simply an ill state of mind of seeing things that way and I will explain why.
That's when I realized it was too late to think about anonymity. By 2002, each of us had left so much information about ourselves in the open that there was no way back to anonymity.
Many think the same about Bitcoin, saying to themselves (for years) that it's too late for them to "jump on Bitcoin train". This is simply not true. Best moment to "enter Bitcoin" is
now and this was true since Jan 3rd, 2009. Similar, although you revealed your personal information, you can still do some efforts for gaining back your privacy. GDPR is also very useful. Plus the
Right to be Forgotten. You may not be able to delete your personal information from all the websites where you exposed it with naivete, but you can try though.
My unique selling point was that I kept all my information publicly accessible. I was very easy to find if needed, unlike most people on the internet.
That was
your unique selling point, which does not mean that it was also the only one. In a web of trust, as it was
envisioned by Tim May more than three decades ago, you don't need to expose yourself for being trusted, but to build a reputation inside a web of trust. Such web of trust exists right here, on this forum. If you build a good reputation here and you receive positive feedbacks for successful deals, nobody will question who you are and --
be sure of that -- you will make deals way more / faster / better than anyone else coming back with his ID and saying he wants to make a deal. You can read more about reputation on the free market
here.
This meant I wouldn't deceive anyone.
That does
not mean, for sure, that someone presenting with his real name can not make frauds. Should I remember, as example, the name
Mark Karpelès?
And then suddenly, I started noticing that many people wanted to return to anonymity and privacy.
There was no "returning to privacy", as nobody lost interest in privacy online in the past 5-7 decades (explained below).
To me, this seemed foolish
It is as foolish as locking your door. After all, who would ever rob you, right? Or like using an antivirus.
I remembered that there was no real privacy and anonymity on the internet as early as 2002
Quite the contrary: in years 2000 we were in full-period of
crypto wars. NSA, on one side, and Cypherpunks, on the other side. First outlawed free access to cryptography and export of cryptography outside US border, while the lattest did their best for offering people free access to cryptography, private comunications and software which rendered Big Brother obsolete.
However, these wars were nothing new. Look, for example, at the work of Dr. David Chaum and see when those manuscripts were published: "
Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms", "
Blind Signatures for Untraceable Payments" or "
Security without Identification Card Computers to make Big Brother Obsolete".
The battle for free access to cryptography started in fact during Cold War and since then various tech-savvies fought hard for helping people in not being surveilled anymore, in having a peaceful life while having the benefit of privacy and of private communications. These lasted until NSA capitulated, at the end of 2000 decade, realizing that cryptography can not be stopped anymore. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden also gave huge hands of help on this matter.
So what you are saying -- "I remembered that there was no real privacy and anonymity on the internet as early as 2002" -- it's pure non-sense. People started fighting for their privacy since early years of cryptography, when it was banned in US to regular people.
I finally saw one of the first arguments in favor of anonymity that I could understand and agree with. This argument is about if you have a lot of money, someone might want to take it from you. So, it's better not to disclose unnecessary information about yourself.
This is true also if you are not rich. Once your personal information is exposed, you can't know what lunatic shows up at your door and tries to steal anything you have inside the house.
I also understand why people who have many bitcoins may need coins from the exchanges.
I can understand that only if we talk about anonymous, decentralized exchanges.
Tl; dr: doctors tell you what to do, in order to be healthy, but it's only up to you if you want to live healthy or die at 40 years because of a stroke. Similar, it's safe to lock your door, especially at night. In crypto, it's recommended to not expose your personal information. But it's only up to you if you want to risk your money, your wealth, your house and, eventually, your life as well.
