Why this review?
- To avoid confusing and clarify when we used these terms to define online product
- I interpret this review from data point of view
Why we want…
Privacy
- To secure our personal informations
- Security and vulnerability to identity theft for me and peoples I know (social graph)
- By controling our data that ensure to control our own lives (at least online)
- Privacy and decentralized system, avoid surveillance. Imagine you know you are being watched or tracked every day, but you don’t know where or by whom, spoiling our lives already.
Anonymity
- To have the right to express your thoughts without reveal your identity
- To be free to express yourself without fear of retribution or censorship
- imagine your personal data is revealed in public, someone can blackmail you, and the censorship is broken
Pseudonimity
- To have the right to express your thoughts by using an identifier without disclosing your true identity.
- People use pseudonyms in different contexts, like:
- separate private and personal lives
- create personas on social media.
- sign social action like street art
What is…
Privacy
Without you, nobody or entities, know who you’re or what you do, write.
A person or entity that owns their securized personal data and has full control over it. Nobody has the ability to access this information without the owner’s authorization.
Anonymity
Nobody know who you’re (properties), that enable to freely express you without the need to reveal your identity (benefits)
That a person or entity: non-identifiable (we cannot link an identity back of it), unreachable, or untrackable.
Pseudonimity
Peoples can associate a pseudonym without knowing the real identity back of them
Is it possible that this identity will be leaked by applications (because of a lack of privacy measures in the app) or revealed by the owner itself. Anonymous applications are not possible because no identifier who has the capacity to link another real identity is required
Example
Privacy
Signal App is private because users control who sees the content of messages, and Signal doesn’t have access to these messages. But Signal is not anonymous because it requires a phone number (the identifier). Data is stored on the device by default.
Notion is not a privacy app because users cannot control whether Notion company have access to their content. By using Notion, you’re the owner of your data, and you trust Notion will not consume or analyze your data.
AnyType, an alternative taking note app, is private because the user’s old key access and the data are stored in a p2p and decentralized network called IPFS. As with human relations, utilizing any tool is a question of trust or minimizing trust assumptions.
A good source for privacy in web3: https://twitter.com/web3privacy
Anonymity
With anonymity, we can involve community building by enabling individuals to connect with others who share similar interests or beliefs. Avoiding human judgment and creating a safe place for people to express their thoughts. A good example is 4chan.
Paying in cash is anonymous; we cannot record or link the amount of cash you own. The cash itself is identifiable to avoid falsification. But we cannot provide a history of all owners of x paper money.
That is exactly the opposite of a public blockchain. We have the ability to read, analyze, and follow the entire chain of transactions from one identifier (wallet address, aka chain of numbers).
Same if you use a tool to mix tokens; if you out the money to the real world, you can be identified while you’re fully anonymous.
Pseudonymity
Ethereum address (identifier) is a pseudonyme. An identity is associated with the address, but we don’t know who it is. Same for your Farcaster account; you can take a @, don’t reveal your identity, and express as you want (by respecting the social rules of course).
Resources used