tree leaves on sky image from Pixabay
I would like to use this moment to say goodbye to the Hive community.
First, here are my reasons why I need to quit.
- I don't want the consequences of my anonymity being uncovered. I don't know if I have already done something that would allow just anyone with technical knowledge to uncover my anonymity, but I don't want to increase the risk further by continued posting on Hive. Just one identity leak will make all my efforts to remain anonymous become nothing.
- The Tor browser makes it difficult to use most Hive dapps. From being unable to watch any video on 3Speak (or any video dapp) to being unable to login to some dapps at all due to the Hive KeyChain requirement, accessing Hive has been so difficult for me. I even made a compromise to lower the security of Tor browser below the minimum standard just to avoid the hassle of broken dapps and repeated logins.
- I love decentralization, but immutability has its disadvantages. I can't exercise my right to be forgotten because of the blockchain nature. Privacy is therefore irrelevant here. I have made here some posts (mostly comments) that I wish could be completely erased (not just hidden) by me.
- It takes a toll on my well-being. The hardest part of remaining anonymous is never telling anyone, no matter how trustworthy, about my anonymous activities. I also have adapted a personality that is different from my real one, especially my way of writing. Over time, the differences inevitably blur, so I should know where to stop my anonymous activities, and that time is now.
I am specifically referring to my posts against governments and corporations, especially about their global untargeted surveillance which is against the right to privacy, their attempts to censor which is against the right free speech, and their deliberate actions to use COVID-19 for their motives that are never found to benefit the general public.
There have been many times that I almost published my real personal information (such as my email address) here on Hive, because I frequently switch between Tor browser (which I am always using to access Hive like what I am doing right now) and Firefox/Brave browser for most online activities on which privacy or anonymity is irrelevant.
In real life, I am not the type of person who would openly speak about society's (already obvious) mistakes. I am in fact the opposite of that. I can and do pay so much attention to detail that I can easily spot other people's mistakes, but I am afraid of receiving backlash for telling the truth. That is why posting on Hive about things I want to change costs much of my energy and time.
Next, I would like to thank everyone who supported me here on Hive.
- @gniksivart and @jotakrevs for giving the time to reply on my posts when I was still new here on Hive.
- Fellow privacy enthusiasts @ash and @fav (I know they are owned by the same person).
- The user @suesa who delegated 50 Hive Power for me for about 2 months, allowing me to post a lot about #Privacy and respond to polls on dPoll.io.
- The user @fw206 who habitually upvoted my votes pertaining to privacy with more or less worth $0.35.
- The dPoll community who responded to my polls: @billybohner, @vimukthi, @pereu4ivatel, @n1hal, @patrickulrich @abbak7, @d-zero, @aschatria, @russia-btc, @fredkese, @akdx, @jeffjagoe, @gravitcaper, @maxer27, @sudutpandang, @wonderful.world1, @unklebonehead, @godlovermel25, @wakeupkitty.pal, @erica005, @suntree, @pyramidone, @rmach, @reeta0119, @a-quarius, @pavelsku, @kggymlife, its developer @emrebeyler, and everyone who diligently responded to my polls and upvoted them.
- The user @vimukthi who has delegated 150 Hive Power for me from a month ago until this time of posting, preventing me from worrying about running out of Resource Credits for posting.
- @danielsaori for his service @dustsweeper.
- The Quello (@quello) community for helping me get answers to my questions, and allowing me to answer other people's questions.
- The D.Buzz (@dbuzz) community @oniemaniego, @shainemata, @fernandosoder, @d-zero, @billybohner, @slashformotion, @globetrottergcc, @last.german, @sarimanok, @godlovermel25, @rmach, @iamraincrystal, @june21neneng, its admin @chrisrice, its developer @nathansenn, and everyone there I had good times with.
Finally, I would like to ask for your opinions about what I should do to my account after I decided never to use it again.
Here are the possible choices I could make:
- Delegate all my Hive Power to another person whom I believe deserves it.
- Privately give away my owner key (and/or master password) to somebody I believe deserves to inherit my account. This includes the credentials of the Privacy community account @hive-120808.
- Just stop using my Hive account (with or without automatic voting to @dbuzz in place).
Power down all my Hive Power, then donate the HIVE to another person or community whom I believe deserves it or withdraw them to an XMR (Monero) wallet using BlockTrades (though it will require me to go back 13 weeks after, long after I have stopped using Hive).
I am inclined to delegate all my Hive Power to @dbuzz. I believe that @dbuzz will delegate their own Hive Power to users in need.
I would continue using this Hive account @anonymouser until August 5, 2020 (but it can be earlier), just for us to exchange goodbyes, and for me to make delegations or transfers.
After that, you may contact me privately at anonymousers[aht]tutanota[dat]com (the email address I created exclusively for Hive), though I would not entertain emails there requesting me to continue using my Hive account. Within about 30 days of no emails from Hive users, I would also delete that email address, since some spam emails there are already bothering me.
Maybe I would create a semi-anonymous account here on Hive in the future, but nobody would know it is me who was behind the account @anonymouser. That is really sad, but that is the price I have to pay for deciding to be anonymous and posting about sensitive topics.
I don't know your circumstances, but for what it's worth, I've been posting anti-government stuff for almost 4 years, under my full name; and for the last 3 years I've been posting about our open meetings at The Jade on Flinders St in Adelaide; last Thursday of the month from 6pm.
Nobody's black bagged me yet.
Thank you for sharing your experience about not getting targeted even while not anonymous.
However, your posts such as "the government wants to monopolize all power" is already well-known and is much less likely to anger governments (and corporations), but my posts about governments' (and corporations') attempt to physically and psychologically manipulate people without them knowing by means of spyware on all devices would make surveillance entities much more interested in uncovering me and others like me. You know what, even my friends get mad at me for telling them about how governments (and corporations, again) use their private data for more power and money.
Thanks for the mention, sad to see ya leave. I'd say do choice #1 or 2 with your account. Best of luck in the future.
Posted using Dapplr
Thank you for understanding me. Which among #1 or #2 do you think is better?
Sad!
I liked your kind of writing here, but I understand your reasons.
I have one of the semi-anonymous profiles here because some people (5 or 6) know who I am. My posts are not that critical. So I can live with that.
I wish you all the best and would be glad if you come back, either anonymous, semi-anonymous or non-anonymous.
Cheers!
I constantly say that we need more anonymity - I constantly say that we need anonymous transactions - I don't understand why no one is doing this now - I suggest you talk about it more | we must create a proposal to fund the development of anonymity Hive
Nothing guarantees our online anonymity more than applying steps ourselves (not any other developer) on ensuring that we are under its cover. Therefore, I do not see how a Hive dapp that provides strong anonymity is even possible.
Technologies are developing at a cosmic speed - I am sure that soon there will be a way to anonymize Internet browsing - but now we ourselves must take care of our anonymity.
The Tor browser already technically guarantees anonymity, but it is the human user that can make mistakes that will gradually lead to compromising their own anonymity.
You will be missed.
I had fun with our conversations here on Hive. I like people who talks deeply about the things they love. Hope you come back, maybe as @anonymouser or as another person.
(Please don't leave)
Unfortunately, talking about things I love (privacy in this case) potentially compromises the only shield I have against harassment - anonymity.
Sorry, I won't come back anymore as @anonymouser. I might be back after about a year using another account, but all of you would no longer recognize me on that account.
It's sad to lose a good contributor to our community. Best wishes for you.
My suggestion is to keep at least the owner key of your account and set it for sale for it's value to be paid in Monero. Eventually someone might going to buy it.
I don't think selling the account to another person is a good thing. The best I can do is to give it away to a person trustworthy enough to handle my account with care.
Valid point.
My current plan right now is to delegate all my Hive Power to somebody who is responsible for maintaining a thriving community, such as @dbuzz of D.Buzz.
🙂👍
I think it's really sad, anonymouser. You're already inside my head with dpoll. It's a pity if sometimes you have to remain anonymous. The people can also hide the truth deep inside and it escapes very slowly into the universe. There are so many truths, as many as there are people and even more. I think it's a terrible pity that sometimes people have to be afraid.
I wish you very much luck, goodbye anonymouser, hello unknown person. Come back soon, I know I will not know you then.
Thank you for understanding my reasons for leaving. I know it's sad, but I can't just continue posting and worrying about people who will just want to target me with almost no benefit aside from the fun of it.
I hope you reconsider, but if not, I hope you give your master key to someone else
There is no need to give the owner key or master password to somebody else if the Hive Power is delegated to somebody who will use it well.
Alright
How are you?
Right now, I am just waiting for people to say goodbye to me on Hive. Since there are only a very few number of people who are saying goodbye to me today, I would quit sooner.
It seems that you decided already what best for you to do this time. Hope to see you soon.
I have often similar problems and concerns. I use payed VPN service and anonymous e-mail addresses to hide me.
It depends on the government, some are critics-proof. Others,only retaliate if you say something what really hurts them.
Real dictatorships may retaliate every word.