Encrypt Your Identity with CIVIC
A growing issue these days as crypto gains a bigger presence is that of identification.
With increased government regulations, and implementations of KYC practices- that’s know your customer, it seems that the days of anonymously investing in ICOs are behind us, if you’re a U.S. citizen.
But it’s more than just wanting to be anonymous, there is resistance to these requirements to identify ourselves because… who actually enjoys giving out their personal info? And to have that associated with blockchain technology, a technology that permanently stores information is all the more reason to be apprehensive about this.
But if done correctly, blockchain tech can help alleviate this situation in some ways by at least bringing security in the form of encryption to your sensitive information.
There exists in this world an entity called Equifax, it’s a consumer credit reporting agency that stores very personal information of millions of people. Information like names, birth dates, social security numbers and driver license numbers.
You may have heard about this before or recognized it from the news when its database was hacked in the Spring of this year, but they didn’t release this information until months later.
It is very much a centralized authority and quite frankly, with that amount of sensitive information it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.
Here’s a distributed, blockchain based solution that has the potential to replace things like Equifax.
Today I’m focusing on Civic.
This one is all about securing your sensitive identification information in a way that gives you at least a little bit of peace of mind if you ever need to verify your identity or other aspects of yourself.
Now just as a personal disclaimer, I am not a fan of any use of mobile devices when it comes to securing anything like personal identity or when cryptocurrency is concerned.
You can use their app to scan your documents, and Civic or a “third party verifier” then verifies that the content is valid. Your information is encrypted for security and you’ll then be able to pick and choose which information is shared to whichever entity is requiring your verification. For sure this can help make the verification process much easier than having to take multiple photos of your drivers license for each time you need verification, but I am curious to know exactly who this other “third party verifier”, so if anyone knows an answer to this, go ahead and leave a comment down below.
So in a way you’re centralizing your own verification information for your convenience, but with the distributed aspects of Civic, if your information or someone else’s information is somehow compromised, that incident is compartmentalized and will not lead to the entire network getting compromised.
In addition to making verification easier, Civic also provides identity theft protection in the form of:
One thing that really caught my eye that is listed in the “Coming Soon” section of their website is that they are planning on adding “black market monitoring”.
So many times cryptocurrencies are thought of as black market currencies that is only good for using on the dark web, it’s cool for me at least, to see this kind of effort as a precautionary measure to help prevent ID theft.
The memberships being offered at the moment include the free membership which currently offers the $1 million theft insurance. And there is the standard membership which will cost you $2.95 a month which offers more credit monitoring options and the 24/7 support line.
Additional Reading/Sources:
Equifax Hack
Equifax Website
KYC Explained
Bittrex Dealing with More Regulations
How-To Verify Identity on Crypto Exchanges
Civic Website
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What is the point of crypto if we have to give out all of this info? Now certain exchanges want your info and a photo of you to boot. What happened to the crypto in crypto currency?
Take a look at the Bitshares DEX. Low volume at the moment but it's non-invasive.
https://bitshares.org/
Cool. Thanks for the info
I love the idea of Civic and I think it can definitely be a force for good but what is the function of the Civic token really!? I've found very little information about what functionailty it actually has
I couldn't agree with you more, Civic is great. It has the potential to keep the most sensitive personal information of people safe from hackers. In recent years there has been a steady stream of incidents in which the personal information of millions of people was compromised due to hacks. When even Equifax - which is responsible for compiling and safeguarding the sensitve personal information that is the lifeblood of its business - gets hacked, that tells you everything you need to know about the need to improve the safety of our personal information.
Civic offers the real potential, using the blockchain, to prevent these types of hacks from occurring in the future without the need for centralized storage of the information. This will be a compelling value proposition for big business, which will have the ability to access the information they need without the need the gather and store it themselves. Believe me, that is the last thing they want to do, because having that information is costly to maintain and try to protect, which is outside their core competencies and subjects them to expensive lawsuits and humiliating negative publicity when something goes wrong.
I am happy to have a position in Civic and think it will turn out to be a good investment.
Tell me about it. In March 2018, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will be activated in EU, a serious headache for me and other software developpers, loads of work...
Encrypt your identity with NationalSA
I better hope that the big exchanges encrypt personal user data well.
What if a big exchange like Kraken or Bittrex got hacked.
Great read overall! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the crypto markets!
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@college-is-dumb/bitcoin-crash-sunday-bitcoin-overpriced-investment-banks-manipulating-futures
@fechaugger that's something I've been thinking about as well. I'm new to crypto and have been blown away about the amount of personal data I've had to share to be able to trade, I am usually crazily protective about the info I share online. I like the idea of encrypting my identity with something like Civic, and I can see the market value in it, but as @heiditravels said, who is the third party verifier?
Right, that's the question.
Great post
Thanks for telling us about this. Interesting that they currently have a free membership level.
Not your best pic. You have had previous pictures that were much better click bait.
Thanks Dave.
Nothing wrong with your picture :)
Clickbait? Where's the rolling eyes or face palm emoji when you need it!
Why don't you post your videos on https://d.tube ?
Link
@heimindanger
@dtube
Discord Dtube
How long until governments make it a requirement for all citizens to be 'Civic-alised'?
Two old expressions came to mind while I was reading this post. One "experience is the best teacher", and the other "necessity is the mother of invention" . Very timely and generous of you to share up to date developments in this crazy world of crypto.
right on, those expressions literally nail this post on the head. Since I found your comment substantive, you receive a well deserved upvote from me to you @windrockswater
Thank you I appreciate being replied to at all, it's an affirmation. Really appreciate it.
You bet!