Buterin Joins Users in Warning About X’s Account Location Feature
Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, stated that X’s new feature, which shows the country of the account holder, is dangerous. He said that he agrees with cryptocurrency users’ privacy worries about this feature. Nikita Bier, product director at X, said that this feature was released on Saturday. According to Bier, it’s a technique to guarantee the platform’s integrity and allow users to confirm information.
Buterin Reverses Stance on X’s Controversial Country Feature
Buterin stated on Sunday that some accounts will eventually figure out how to pose as citizens of nations they are not. At first, he believed that the change might be beneficial. For instance, it might make it easier to see how members of diverse communities feel about different issues. However, a few cryptocurrency users expressed worries that the functionality would make it easier for criminals to track and target wealthy investors in person. They also brought up other concerns about privacy. Buterin reconsidered these worries.
I thought about this more and I think responders are right that revealing the country non- ‘consensually without offering any opt-out option, not even stop using your account, is wrong. In most cases, revealing country still leaves a very large anonymity set, but there are some people for whom even a few bits of leakage are risky, and they should not have their privacy retroactively rugpulled with no recourse.
Buterin
The new functionality was viewed more favorably by some X users. They contended that it would be difficult to identify anyone in a nation the size of the United States, which has a population of about 350 million, by disclosing an account location.
Crypto Leaders Slam X’s Mandatory Location Feature as a Privacy Risk
Prominent cryptocurrency executives expressed privacy worries as well. Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, was adamantly opposed to the new feature.
I hate it. Opt-in doxing is fine, mandatory doxing is psychotic.
Adams
The privacy risks also worried Andrei David, chief technology officer at the decentralized finance platform Summer.fi.
The problem isn’t showing country; it’s forcing everyone into visibility without notice. A privacy-sensitive feature should always start with the least revealing setting,
David
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