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– In the end, the Ethereum founder made his main point.

Privacy is an important guarantor of decentralization: whoever has information has power, so centralized control of information should be avoided. When people in the real world raise concerns about centralized control of technical infrastructure, sometimes it’s about unexpected rule changes or denying users access to the platform, but often it’s about data collection.

The belief that transparency is always good is fundamentally at odds with reality, the developer argues. Here’s his next point.

These assumptions include the belief that the world’s political leadership is generally well-intentioned and common sense, and that social culture is evolving in a positive way. Both are increasingly untrue.

Buterin admitted that sometimes he is bothered by the lack of personal privacy. The proof is the numerous photos of Vitalik, taken secretly in public places.

Every action I take on the street can, albeit with a small probability, unexpectedly become news in the media.

Photos of Vitalik Buterin taken without his knowledge.

The need for privacy will only increase as technology advances: brain-computer interfaces, for example, could allow automated systems to read minds directly.

Another problem that Vitalik voiced was dynamic pricing. Until now, companies charge users as much as they think they can pay.

The developer also opposed the idea of integrating government backdoors into privacy systems. According to him, such proposals are common, but they are inherently harmful.

In the case of data collected by platforms as part of KYC or Know Your Customer procedures, not only government agencies have access to it, but also many private companies with varying levels of integrity. Data is stored and processed by banks, payment processors and other intermediaries.

Similarly, telecommunications companies can track the location of users.

And, as practice shows, this information is often sold illegally. Buterin expressed concern that people who have access to such data will always have an incentive to use it for personal use, and the databases themselves can be hacked. In addition, even a trustworthy government could end up being unfair to sensitive information. The developer continues.

From the average person’s perspective, if data is taken from them, they have no way of knowing how and by whom it will be used in the future. The safest approach is to collect as little data as possible in the beginning.

Buterin also touched on the issue of governments being able to access any information on request using legislation. This has been practiced for hundreds of years, but in the past, governments had far fewer tools to gather information. Now, the ability of the state apparatus can cause serious harm to every citizen.

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, Buterin has proposed his own solution to the problem. It is based primarily on zero-disclosure evidence technology, or so-called ZK evidence.

They allow for fine-grained control over who can see what information and who can see what information. ZK proofs are cryptographic protocols that allow one party to prove the truth of a statement without revealing any additional data.

One such system is ZK proof of identity. It proves your uniqueness without revealing more precise and extensive information. These systems rely on documents like passports or biometrics combined with decentralized solutions.