I signed up without identity verification to Hive using 3Speak. However, that does not necessarily mean that I remained anonymous.
The fact that I signed up "without identity verification" is not necessarily the same to having signed up "anonymously". There is a digital trail - a public one in fact.
3Speak required anyone who registers to Hive using their service to pay $1 (or $2 for a 15-day delegation of 15 Hive Power) using either ETH, USDC, or DAI to prevent spammers from registering massive numbers of accounts. Note that I am not against paying a small registration fee to fight spammers. My only problem is that I both wanted to be truly anonymous, and I used one of them to pay. None of the three cryptocurrencies are truly anonymous, since they are based on an unencrypted public blockchain.
The trail is detailed below.
- I used a centralized exchange to convert my fiat currency to the cryptocurrency (which posed the lowest fees).
- I used the same centralized exchange to send the cryptocurrency to 3Speak's one-time wallet for the purpose of paying for my Hive account.
- 3Speak, having received my payment on their one-time wallet, proceeds to transfer all the cryptocurrency in the one-time wallet to their own wallet of choice (now or in the near future).
As you can see, my anonymity is not guaranteed since I transacted on a public blockchain. The centralized exchange can determine via blockchain analysis (the way they catch users who violate their ToS such as those who send cryptocurrency to gambling websites) that I sent money to a wallet that most likely is controlled by 3Speak. Nevertheless, only 3Speak knows that I paid for my account using the one-time wallet.
My privacy can still be preserved by 3Speak if they hide the fact (or better, just delete them) that the one-time wallet I sent money to corresponds to my Hive account.
Now, before you click on that downvote button because you think I hate 3Speak, take note of the following:
I know that 3Speak is just protecting themselves from spammers. I am not putting any blame on them.
I know that putting an anonymous verification system that still protects against spammers is impossible (right now). I also know that is totally the responsibility of the Hive users to employ measures for themselves to remain anonymous and private, not any Hive dapp.
That said, I request 3Speak to delete any record that my payment to the cryptocurrency wallet they created to receive my payment corresponds to the fee required for the creation of my Hive account @anonymouser.
I know that they cannot prove that they fulfilled my request, since there is technically no way to prove something does not exist (or no longer exists). I just really hope they do.
I remain aware of the fact that I can simply deny that I am the person who makes any activity using this account at any point in time.
In case of investigation (whether civil or criminal) for any reason or without reason whatsoever, possible statements to deny that I am controlling this account include the fact that owner keys could be stolen at any time. The reason why I made my request to 3Speak is to prevent those investigations from discovering my identity in the first place.
I believe there is (and will be) no good reason for any government authority or corporation to prosecute or sue me based on my current posts, and future ones based on my posting behavior. Regardless of that, I still want this Hive account to never be linked to my real identity.
Remember, privacy (and anonymity) is not desired only by evil people. It is an inalienable human right. It is deserved by every human.
Thank you for reading.