Privacy.

What does that mean for most of us? Is it just a concept that we know is healthy, but in reality, not necessary? I hope not. A perfect world for me is one in which everyone can share the amount of information they want to, not be forced to give up their rights, or just plain miss out on services because they refuse to give up these rights.

This is a big benefit of open source ventures. If you don't agree with how one service is using/harvesting data, you can switch to something different; or even make your own! And although Steemit does much better with privacy awareness compared to institutions like Facebook, they are still guilty of taking shortcuts.

A big shortcut that I disagree with is the requirement of linking a phone number to your account. Not everyone will share my opinion, but I find this a little silly, especially considering the well-saturated bot culture on Steemit. I understand the need to filter out spam, but there are other ways to do this. CAPTCHA is one, donation is another. But neither of these routes are ventured. Why?

I propose a movement of adding other verification routes (such as previously mentioned), and the removal of the phone number requirement. This will allow us to create entry to Steemit as seamless as possible, borrowing from the Bitcoin philosophy that anyone is allowed on the network.