Perhaps PoO is an unfortunate acronym but hopefully it's grabbed your attention long enough to stop and read this.

"Thank goodness someone told me I was me"

Yeah, we get that a lot but truthfully, there are valid reasons for ordering your verification badge and we'll address a few of them here.

Anonymity

There are many account holders who wish to remain anonymous. As an account holder and content creator, this is certainly your right. People use pseudonyms or pen names for a variety of reasons.

Established writers often use a pen names to write cross genres without irritating their fan base. They may use an alias to seek other publishing opportunities. ¹ Maybe they like writing explicit romance or terrifying horror and don't want grandma to know how demented they are.

Superheroes and Super Villains have secret identities too. It gets really tiring when your job is to save (or destroy) the world. There's turmoil in the world 24/7/365 so it's nice to go incognito once in a while. We get that!

Trust

It's hard to develop loyalty without trust.
Many people do not want to flaunt their credentials or ID in a public forum.
That is why It's quite convenient to have a trusted 3rd party (ahem, SteemVerify) verify that you're a legitimate human being / entity / super something or other.

Bear in mind that we do not take responsibility for the content created or shared by a verified user.

Disclaimer:² Steem Verify is a service that only verifies the identity of a poster. We don't monitor content for originality and quality. Cases of plagiarism and fraud are still possible with a user who has chosen to verify.
Please think critically with your upvotes and report any suspicious activity to @steemcleaners

What does this have to do with PoO?

By now you're still just wondering what PoO is, and 99% of you may think we're pulling your leg, right?

Proof of Ownership

That's right. Proof of Ownership. We're getting to that.

About your Verification Badge

We are currently using a program called OpenStego. This is a steganographic program which hides a secret message or image within the ordinary information.

For more information about steganography, read this

In layman's terms, think of it as writing a secret message in lemon juice and then writing another letter on top of it. The secret message can only be revealed by heating the paper. It's kind of the same concept for modern day usage.

This is where the importance of PoO comes in.
By attaching your unique badge to your content you thereby authenticate it, claiming ownership.

Real world use:

Plagiarism
If someone pirated your content and copy/pasted your badge, their copy of the badge would not contain the hidden message!

Additionally, if your content is on the blockchain (as it is on Steemit), you have a true time stamp in addition to being the verified owner of disputed content.

Selling your account
You're thinking about cashing out and leaving Steemit. You've generated a reputation and your account has value so you want to sell it to the highest bidder. You wish to remain anonymous but they demand PoO to finish the transaction.

Do you see how your badge might come in handy?

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As long as you have the original copy of your badge, you can affix it wherever you use the internet.

Remember, altering your badge in any way erases the encryption

So, yeah... We're really glad you're you - but you might be very thankful that you can prove it one day.

You've made it this far? Excellent!

Here's something fun.
Find the secret message.
Follow the directions and you will receive a small token of appreciation.

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Get SteemVerified at http://steemverify.com/

Note: The password option is a built-in redundancy but it is optional. If someone requests a copy of your badge from us, we can double check the legitimacy of the request using the optional password.