My Self Online - thinking about data ownership, privacy and anonymity
Hi, what an interesting place this is! Very cool idea and amazing to see so many non-technical people using it. Another step out of the shadows for blockchain and cryptocurrency. I'll introduce myself a bit and why I'm here.
I've recently left the main social media platforms and though I'm cutting down on that kind of internet usage in general, I've been looking around for relaxed alternatives with terms which respect users. This looks like a potential candidate. I've come up with the title "My Self Online" to capture what I'm thinking about.
I find myself thinking a lot about how the information we create is managed by others, as well that other kind of information which is created by observing us. It seems to me that we should have an exclusive right to total ownership of this data, or as close to total ownership as is humanly possible and ethically achievable. It seems reasonable to expect that the state, as guarantor of our rights, should create and enforce laws which support this ownership. Why this isn't the case is a debate I'm very interested in. So that makes me interested in politics and the law too, especially the project of trying to build an ethical society.
My positions are not without contradictions and I'm always exploring that, and will be here. My opinions aren't set, they're just based on the best knowledge I currently have. This changes as I learn more, though I'm not above experiencing resistance to change or knee jerk defensiveness sometimes. I'm hoping to learn a lot here and to experiment with writing a bit.
I'm not sure why I chose personz as my username. Maybe it's because I'm interested in things that affect us all, as a society. Or maybe it's the ambiguity - Person Z, the unnamed one. I'm certainly going to keep my identity here for here. Privacy is important to me.
So, nice to meet yous, interested to see what it's like here 🤗 🙋 🙌
Disclaimer and notes
- I do not agree with the idea of verification via photo or video. It's too much information in my opinion, and not needed. I do not exactly claim to be anyone. I'd like to discuss this in a post at some point too 😉
- All images used directly will be my own creations, without exception. For this first image above I've used PostImg to host the image anonymously. Their terms and conditions allow for this kind of usage (i.e. cross site).
- This text serves as a notice that I am waving any copyright or intellectual property rights on the above image.
Postscript
- I was inspired to use an image by @hansb with this intro post, which I loved.
- I read some of the extra posted FAQs and primers and really like this one by @thecryptofiend and this one by @beanz.
Hello @personz,
Your post has been chosen by the communities of SteemTrail as one of our top picks today.
What do you love to write about? Join us on SteemTrail today and find others who share your interest!
The SteemTrail Community looks forward to more great stuff from you. So, please keep up the great work!
Keep on Steemin!
Thank you kindly, I'm honored! 😃
This post has been ranked within the top 10 most undervalued posts in the second half of Dec 15. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $14.19 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
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Welcome! Glad you found my post helpful! 😊
I agree that your anonymity should be totally respected here and most current steemians would agree. The only reason for the verifications is normally for people who claim to be "somebody" because we don't like to see somebody's content stolen and passed off as their own.
Following you and look forward to reading more!
Hi! 👋 It's certainly a issue, a big one. I like that it's optional here, and that probably you will get called out if people suspect you're plagiarising content. I guess STEEM itself is a measure of trust, but also people could possibly be mislead, though not for long I imagine.
People are easily misled of course, especially in a small community where we get used to trusting the accountability that comes with the transparency of the blockchain. We have had a number of dramatic occurences where users or accounts were discovered for either scamming the system or deceiving the community. We learn and grow from them. You're here good and early to watch how this whole experiment takes off ;)
Wow, sounds exciting. Got any links to posts about that, or even the drama itself? I could trawl through the history but... 😅
Well we had a serious issue of catfish around the time I joined. One example of somebody who was actually caught for it (most of them got away) was this guy. I hope you enjoy that story as much as I did unfolding it.
Also if you look at @msgivings and check out the rewards it was getting and for his long then check the comments of the last posts before they skipped and ran you might find that interesting. Personally I'm still unsure what happened there. The person behind could easily still be on steemit.
Thank you, this is cool, given me food for thought regarding verification. Best 😁
@personz, welcome to steemit my friend. You will enjoy.
Thank you!
Welcome to Steemit! :))
Hi 😆 Thanks for the welcome
Welcome! As for verification, you probably won't have anyone asking for it unless you're claiming to be someone who has an online presence.
Good to know. I came across this as an explainer, but I didn't really see any alternatives to the picture / video method or connection with a more mainstream social media account. I think this is a bit of a gap which could be filled in by some interesting system... we'll see.
Nice knowing your views upvoted followed.
It is. There's good vibes here. 🌈
Hey! Welcome to steemit. You seem interesting, I liked reading your introduction and I agreed with a lot of what you mentioned. Upvoted and I followed you as well, looking forward to more posts from you in the future and good luck on here!
Cool, thanks for that. Will check you out too :)
Hello person z. I share your objection to posting your photo. If the purpose is for account recovery, let us submit the photo to the steemit website itself. The site could encrypt it using its memo key. The photos would hen need to be stored somewhere, however.
Account photo is used to show the community you are not some other user pretending to be a new user. And if you lose control of your keys you can post a new photo saying you need to recover your account.
From what I'm reading, the purpose is more about trying to stop bots, multiple accounts and catfishing / impersonation. For account recovery it looks like if you trust someone enough, you can recover your account through them. Pretty novel approach.
Hi, @personz, and welcome to Steemit! You said:
"It seems reasonable to expect that the state, as guarantor of our rights, should create and enforce laws which support this ownership. Why this isn't the case is a debate I'm very interested in."
In my all to long experience as an observer of the state, "reason" and "the state" have little or no intersection. When you peel back its superficial mask, the state is nothing more than a gang of powerful thugs imposing their every whim upon a vast mass of humans who extend an unwarranted worship to the superstition of "government."
I invite you to visit my blog and read, in particular, articles under the heading of "Anarchy/Agorism/Liberty" in my Table of Contents, linked at the GIF image below. Of course, I hope you'll also browse and find other topics of interest there!😄😇😄
Thanks, I'm definitely interested in your point of view though I'm not sure it's as black and white as that. I had a quick scan of your articles, looking forward to having a read later 🙂
Super! I'm very open to dialog (time permitting!) and look forward to hearing from you.
As to "black and white," my only regret is that it has taken me the bulk of my life to come to a clear understanding of what human government is all about...
Thanks for responding! ;)