Everyone can see the contents of your SteemIt wallet!steemCreated with Sketch.

in steemit •  8 years ago 

Well, I was shocked. Looking at someone's blog, I saw the wallet button. I thought I would click it to see what the message would be. To my surprise, the full wallet information was shown with the relevant balances.

Ok, if SteemIt has decided that this is a feature, that's fine. My question is: Why didn't I know about this? How much money someone has, or has not, got is a privacy issue. I've never come across a wallet that isn't private. Have I missed something somewhere? As I said in a previous post, the documentation for SteemIt leaves a lot to be desired.

(Devs: What about an option to make a wallet private?)

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This has always been the case. It's not going to be made private either. Steemit is a transparent social platform not a secure private wallet. There are plenty of those if you want one

Well, as I said most people would expect a wallet to be private as that is the norm - I am stating this as a fact.
As to the "Steemit is a transparent social platform not a secure private wallet", are you saying that, as a rule set in concrete, any transparent social platform cannot have "private" places, or that it shouldn't at least be obvious that wallet contents are not private?

My concerns are genuine, and I am sure that other users, especially new ones, will agree with the points I have made. In fact, some people will be put off using SteemIt because of privacy concerns.

Will SteemIt be publishing my phone number? Or my email address? My full name and date of birth? Your point about transparency is pretty weak.

Does steemit know your phone number? Does it know your full name and date of birth? If you don't like it then don't stay. There hows that for an argument?

Actually, it does know my phone number. And that of other new users. According to your rules, they should all be published for transparency: "Steemit is a transparent social platform not a"..... place to keep your information private.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemtruth/new-steemit-registration-process-using-mobile-phones

"If you don't like it then don't stay. There hows that for an argument?"
Are you speaking for the whole community?

Oh my, I didn't know about that new process. Thank you for informing me. Although I couldn't find the bit that described the part where you also gave out your DOB?

I said Steemit is a transparent social platform. I did not say that all information known about a user should be published.

According to my rules? Really?

I did not claim to be to speaking for the whole community. How did you come to that assumption?

And about the wallets. I found out within my first five minutes that you could view anyone's. I didn't have to be told. Although I do appreciate that some people do need to be.

"Although I do appreciate that some people do need to be"
Thank you! That's all I said from the beginning. I never said the platform had to be changed. I even said, "Ok, if SteemIt has decided that this is a feature, that's fine. My question is: Why didn't I know about this?"

I asked if you were speaking for the community because you said, "If you don't like it then don't stay.", which is not the usual way to deal with such issues. SteemIt is still growing and, believe it or no, needs some inclusion and discussion. . Maybe something like "I do appreciate that some people do need to be told about the wallets. Transparency of funds is necessary so that the community knows who holds power. Maybe some proper documentation would help." Your comment was just dismissive and, quite frankly, a rude way to try to end the discussion.

Well my reaction was based upon your prior rudeness so I guess we can end it there. Good day to you.

relax. everything is fine. Actually id be more concerned with steemit not having an actual wallet for desktops/mobile as steem is technically not owned by the user as steem holds the private keys.

This is going back a bit.

FYI SteemIt was hacked about a year ago.

I would add that SteemIt can't be all that transparent if a normal user doesn't know that wallets are publicly viewable.

a normal user just needs to click on the wallet button on someone's account to know they are publicly viewable... only took me about 10 minutes into being on the platform to learn that.

That's a matter of information not transparency. It's just one of those features of this site.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Information comes from transparency, and transparency comes from information. I don't think you can separate the two without giving reasons why the information doesn't add to the transparency or why transparency shouldn't include certain information. (Work that one out :) )

Welcome to the blockchain @davidnx:) Lol...& That's why the banks fear this blockchain technology...Because it makes them totally transparent...You could track all the transactions so there would be no "funny business" on their part...That's also why they want "private" chains to themselves...Unless the coin you have comes with a built-in privacy fuction, this information will be available...Hope this helps:)

I have no problem with public blockchains. If the government wants to know how much money I have, that's okay. I use Bitcoin, which I know is traceable. It's not a problem.
There is a big difference between someone being able to find information by investigation or official means and someone just having direct access to it. Just because I have nothing to hide does not mean that some form of privacy is not desirable.
Why don't people use their real names for their usernames? People complain about having to use their real name on Facebook all the time.

Well it all comes down to choice...If you know what you signed up for, shouldn't be a problem, right?...Steem blockchain is one of the most transparent blockchains ever...Because you can link an actual Identity to your account...(If you want to, or not)...Choice...It's even more transparent than Bitcoin...If you want a more private coin I suggest, Dash, Monero, Zcash and I'm sure many more that you could find...Might not have the community Steemit has though...That might change for Steemit, but I don't see it happening in the near future with all the other implementations happening first...& Just because you don't have a problem with government knowing your financial status, doesn't mean that everyone else does...I would also guess that you would not have a problem with them telling you to go to war when they want you to...Or, how many kids you should have per family (China) Again, that's your choice...And people sometimes do use their real names with their accounts...Isn't yours David:) lol (Just kidding man)

"If you know what you signed up for, shouldn't be a problem" - Agreed
If I had known beforehand, it would not be a problem.

OK, fair enough. I now see why it is impossible to have the balances in the wallet private because it wouldn't be possible for people to verify steem power value used in voting, etc.
(However, I still say it would have been nice to know about it beforehand.)