Suggestion to improve privacy on Bitcointalk

[SatoPrincess]

I was browsing the forum yesterday when I found this post, it struck me because he went to the extreme to check the OP’s signature address on the blockchain. I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

I think it will be good if campaign managers change the application format to keep users payout addresses private so there is no link between forum usernames and addresses. I know the public spreadsheets help expose alt accounts and bounty cheaters, and for this reason some members may prefer the system stay the same but I believe making the change. I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

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[LoyceMobile]

I'd say "it depends". Both have pros and cons, for instance when there's a dispute about a payment. If you want extra privacy, you could always ask your campaign manager to keep your address out if the spreadsheet. But if you're the only one, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which address belongs to you.
Public payment details can also be helpful to compare rates.

[bullrun2024bro]

~

This is actually not Bitcointalk Meta related. The Bitcointalk forum itself has nothing to do with signature campaigns. They are not endorsed nor does theymos have anything to do with the campaigns offered.

If you want to address the issue, better move this thread to the Service Discussion section and/or contact the respective bounty managers responsible for their signature campaigns.

[Little Mouse]

Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

Royse777 (more promotion) has started this practice for his last 2 campaigns if I'm correct. Well, if you are so concerned, you can ask campaign manager to do this. It's not something that depends on our decision. It's individual or the campaign manager who can decide. If you think it's breaking your privacy, you should stay away from participating such campaigns.

[Upgrade00]

I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

They could follow the trail of transactions and maybe discover related accounts of the user. They now have a string of addresses and have a pseudo identity linked to it. That's a lot of information, but it cannot really be used for much beyond this. You can be sent personalized scam attempts based on actions you take.
If the user erroneously reveals their real identity, they can be attacked cause it's public knowledge the amount of bitcoins they own, or as much of it that is public.

The idea by Royse777 to have the spreadsheet only visible to those who are participating in the campaign is good for privacy. Fellow participants likely can access the information, but that's a small number compared to ayonf who can click on bitcointalk.org.

[ololajulo]

Bitcoin doesn't have that level of privacy, you can still be seen by others until you prevent them from seeing your transaction. Keeping your wallet address on your profile page is also important for two reasons; 1. Besides most authentication requests, for the wallet address provided in the campaign for managers, for cases where your name is impersonated. 2.The forum moderators will also ask for a signature for the provided account on your profile page in case of an account hack, so you need to have this wallet address public. Anyone who takes it as their job to check other people's addresses has a problem.

[salad daging]

I was browsing the forum yesterday when I found this post, it struck me because he went to the extreme to check the OP’s signature address on the blockchain. I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

I don't think it's a crime they just want to know about the bitcoin address and check it, but when it comes to identity then it can't be public and we have to be private, but when other people act on bitcoin addresses it's not a big deal.

I think it will be good if campaign managers change the application format to keep users payout addresses private so there is no link between forum usernames and addresses. I know the public spreadsheets help expose alt accounts and bounty cheaters, and for this reason some members may prefer the system stay the same but I believe making the change. I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

It depends on the manager, they have their own policies, some prefer public spreadsheets, and some are closed, but on average campaigns and spreadsheets are public, if someone doesn't abuse it, it's not a problem for him.

Not all maintainers will accept this suggestion.

[decodx]

I was browsing the forum yesterday when I found this post, it struck me because he went to the extreme to check the OP’s signature address on the blockchain. I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

You can hardly call it 'going to extremes'. The blockchain is public data, so if you publish your transaction or address publicly, you can expect that someone will verify it. I don't see any problem with that. In fact, it can even be seen as a good practice to verify the authenticity of the transaction or someone's claims. However, it's true that malicious individuals could potentially misuse that information. SO, it's good to be cautious and take appropriate measures to protect your privacy.

I think it will be good if campaign managers change the application format to keep users payout addresses private so there is no link between forum usernames and addresses. I know the public spreadsheets help expose alt accounts and bounty cheaters, and for this reason some members may prefer the system stay the same but I believe making the change. I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

No, this measure wouldn't protect your privacy at all, but it would rather benefit scammers who seek to manipulate the system using multiple accounts, such as those involved in promoting the 1xbit scam. If the address was not publicly disclosed, they would likely never have been caught.

[SatoPrincess]

Royse777 (more promotion) has started this practice for his last 2 campaigns if I'm correct. Well, if you are so concerned, you can ask campaign manager to do this. It's not something that depends on our decision. It's individual or the campaign manager who can decide. If you think it's breaking your privacy, you should stay away from participating such campaigns.

Yeah I think I saw that campaign by Royse777. Like LoyceV said, it will be obvious if you’re the only whose address is omitted on the spreadsheet.

You can hardly call it 'going to extremes'. The blockchain is public data, so if you publish your transaction or address publicly, you can expect that someone will verify it. I don't see any problem with that. In fact, it can even be seen as a good practice to verify the authenticity of the transaction or someone's claims. However, it's true that malicious individuals could potentially misuse that information. SO, it's good to be cautious and take appropriate measures to protect your privacy.

I don’t think it’s necessary to publish one’s transaction address publicly, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone.

No, this measure wouldn't protect your privacy at all, but it would rather benefit scammers who seek to manipulate the system using multiple accounts, such as those involved in promoting the 1xbit scam. If the address was not publicly disclosed, they would likely never have been caught.

I understand that bounty cheaters will want to abuse such system. As for accounts promoting 1xbit, they are already tag dubious users including the CM, and I doubt the CM even cares about those cheating in the campaign.

[skarais]

I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

I'm not sure this new system will be adopted by many managers, but I agree about the need for financial privacy. System changes also have to be integrated with some other efforts so as not to give lot of opportunities for anyone who plans to do harm, I mean access to spreadsheets can also be given to anyone who is approved by the manager although it requires special permission.

But anyway, I agree this thread is moved to services discussion.

[SamReomo]

I was browsing the forum yesterday when I found this post, it struck me because he went to the extreme to check the OP’s signature address on the blockchain. I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

I think it will be good if campaign managers change the application format to keep users payout addresses private so there is no link between forum usernames and addresses. I know the public spreadsheets help expose alt accounts and bounty cheaters, and for this reason some members may prefer the system stay the same but I believe making the change. I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

Keeping user payout addresses for privacy concerns will not be helpful. In the blockchain all transactions are recorded, and can be viewed by anyone. Even if the campaign manager keeps the payout addresses private, the problem is still not solved. During the payout cycle, all members of the signature campaign will receive Bitcoin from the campaign manager. Each member of the campaign who receives Bitcoin will be able to see what others have received. Although this approach is better than sharing the address on the forum, it still does not provide complete privacy.

[_act_]

~

This is actually not Bitcointalk Meta related. The Bitcointalk forum itself has nothing to do with signature campaigns. They are not endorsed nor does theymos have anything to do with the campaigns offered.

If you want to address the issue, better move this thread to the Service Discussion section and/or contact the respective bounty managers responsible for their signature campaigns.

Why contacting the manager when you can use Tor to connect to this forum. If you do not want Tor, I do not think VPN is bad. If he does not like campaigns that the payment is public, he can join Stake. You can be on this forum without anyone knowing your identity.

[decodx]

You can hardly call it 'going to extremes'. The blockchain is public data, so if you publish your transaction or address publicly, you can expect that someone will verify it. I don't see any problem with that. In fact, it can even be seen as a good practice to verify the authenticity of the transaction or someone's claims. However, it's true that malicious individuals could potentially misuse that information. SO, it's good to be cautious and take appropriate measures to protect your privacy.

I don’t think it’s necessary to publish one’s transaction address publicly, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone.

It really depends on the situation. For instance, when repaying a loan, it may be required to provide proof of payment. In the realm of cryptocurrency, verifiable transactions hold significant value as the blockchain technology operates with a level of transparency and integrity that humans cannot match.

Regarding the post you mentioned, nobody requested the OP to share his financial details publicly. It was his personal choice to do so.

No, this measure wouldn't protect your privacy at all, but it would rather benefit scammers who seek to manipulate the system using multiple accounts, such as those involved in promoting the 1xbit scam. If the address was not publicly disclosed, they would likely never have been caught.

I understand that bounty cheaters will want to abuse such system. As for accounts promoting 1xbit, they are already tag dubious users including the CM, and I doubt the CM even cares about those cheating in the campaign.

That's not what I meant. Even if the campaign manager is not taking action, it's important for the wider community to have proof of how the campaign is being run. If there is evidence of a large number of interconnected accounts and addresses, it shows that the campaign is not as legitimate as it may seem, and is using a farm of fake accounts to create the false impression of a large following.

In my opinion, it's possible that other scam platforms could follow a similar pattern and create fake signature campaigns by hiring fake accounts to make it seem like their promotional efforts are legitimate. That's why I think it's important for campaign payments to be transparent and public.

[Adbitco]

Usually it should be so but you know.. if a manager starts hiding sheet from the public they would say he or she has added his alt account in the campaign that was why they hide sheet so the general public won't see them to know how they are operating and managing the campaign. So if any manager decided to hide it should be after accepting everyone and they checked their names and addresses are very correct then sheet can be hidden from the general public after which he may instructs all participants to go edit and remove their addresses or they should pm their address to the manager for him to manually input them to the sheets.

Alternatively the manager may share only to the participants, meaning anyone who is not promoting that campaign may not have access to it all less they are one of the participants. That is my opinion maybe lets hear from the campaign managers on their own view concerning this issues.

[TryNinja]

For this particular case it doesn't matter, though?

Mr. Detective didn't actually need to check the address on-chain. We all know how much MixTum pays because this is public on their campaign's thread, so anyone can assume how much he earned.

Anyways:

As I was saying that I bought OnePlus 9 pro 5G in used condition that cost me more than 400 dollars and I mostly paid through my Signature earnings and also my trading and also my savings too

[Hyphen(-)]

I was browsing the forum yesterday when I found this post, it struck me because he went to the extreme to check the OP’s signature address on the blockchain. I wonder what others with malicious intent could do with that information.

It is infuriating when someone goes to great lengths to obtain public information about you, particularly your financial situation.
But I believe the OP of the post you refer to intended it that way because he exposes himself and allows people to go to extreme measures to obtain his total earnings via his wallet address because we all know the information is public.

I think it will be good if campaign managers change the application format to keep users payout addresses private so there is no link between forum usernames and addresses. I know the public spreadsheets help expose alt accounts and bounty cheaters, and for this reason some members may prefer the system stay the same but I believe making the change. I’ve seen only one campaign already doing this, what do you guys think? Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

It would have been preferable if it had been made private for security reasons, but I believe the campaign managers will also require proof of payment to make their work transparent and avoid false accusations of nonpayment by any of their campaign members.

However, as other members have stated, some managers will pay you privately if you request it, while others will not.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

This is a good idea, but I think the method is really helpful in phishing out members that cheat in signature campaigns with their altcoins, unless there is another way to really phish out those members, and I hope the method can stand as concrete evidence against the victim.

 Others may disagree, but I am of the opinion that the wallets or spreadsheets should be kept public. Whoever wants more privacy can use any of the Bitcoin mixers in the forum to mix their bitcoin after receiving a signature, which allows them to send the bitcoin to an address that no one in the forum knows belongs to them. just my opinion.

Second opinion, forum members who have built a good reputation in the forum can send their address directly to the campaign manager via DM, asking him or her to keep their wallet private off the spreadsheet.

[_BlackStar]

Should spreadsheets and payout addresses be kept private?

Personally I don't expect all campaign managers to agree on this, firstly they have their own management policies and secondly you have to decide which campaign benefit you in privacy. You can expect Royse777 or a few others to agree with this idea, but you can't force other people to agree.

If it's about privacy, I think there are always ways to protect your privacy even if you post your address publicly to receive payments. Use mixer service or something, that's what I'm thinking right now.

[nakamura12]

If a forum member have more privacy or the current level of privacy have leveled up then it will be hard to find campaign cheaters and it will become much harder to determine an alt account or second account in the campaign. The forum member in the post you mentioned didn't think that the owner of the address may have paid in BTC for the remaining amount and ask to the person where he bought the phone that he will pay the remaining amount in fiat currency or other cryptocurrency. The op in that thread showed that he paid in USDT which is $150 and we know that if you convert your BTC to USDT then the value won't be the same as before (-transaction fee or exchange fee). Why don't we ask how did he pay the remaining $250 and what did he use to pay then I think he will take back what he said "the story somehow look weird to me". As long as no information about yourself is linked to your wallet address then it's okay if you ask me.

[Aikidoka]

There are for sure pros and cons to revealing Bitcoin addresses during signature campaigns. I won't say that signature campaigns mangers should change that to keep members' BTC addresses private, as it should be a personal choice for privacy. Personally, I prefer not to share information about my addresses or how much BTC I have in them. However, exposing alt accounts should be left to the campaign manager, who can catch cheaters and ensure a fair campaign. Even if an address is exposed, people can still change it after a while or use a mixer to send their BTC to a new address for added privacy