Transparency and the price of anonymity

Troy Benjegerdes hozer at hozed.org
Mon Jan 13 11:21:27 PST 2014


> 
> > your transactions EASILY are visible at blockchain.info and walking the chain back
> 
> still waiting for zerocoin to get merged into mainline ... *cough*

Zerocoin has not been merged because it is not sufficiently funded.

If I thought it actually worked, I'd merge it into a *coin client and give 
end-users a choice if they want to blacklist any coins touched by zerocoin,
or if they wish to pay the public cost to provide private anonymity.

The problem with anonymity is it's *expensive* to actually have meaningful
protection from people that would lock you up or make you dead, and 
I have not seen any credible way for the anon community to actually pay 
scientists and developers to design, build, and most importantly **TEST**
various types of remailers, mixers, and laundry machines.

I've decided it's far less costly *for me personally* to be completely 
transparent, and do my best to live in a way which has nothing to hide.

Yes, that is potentially dangerous, just as it was dangerous for the man
who stood in front of a tank in Tiananmen square, and it was dangerous for
Edward Snowden publicly leak documents.

However, I think the public and onymous (having a name) demonstrations of
principle in full view of the world have a far greater leverage on public
opinion than acts without a face or a name.

If the only secrets I have are the private keys which protect my ability
to publicly and securely validate who I am, the world seems to be a far
less dangerous place, and one that is much easier to live and let live.

So I understand those of you who need to remain names without a face, 
and I want you to be able to be free as in freedom to live. But freedom
is not free as in beer, and there is a cost. 

I'd like an open and transparent discussion about how to fund that cost,
starting with whether http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transparent_Society
may be a solution.



-- Troy Benjegerdes
 



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