Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin calls for stronger privacy tools to counter centralization and data abuse

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, has advocated for improved privacy, noting that developers should prioritize it. Buterin expressed this view in a recent blog post titled “Why I Support Privacy,” in which he warned about centralization and transparency.

In the post, which marks the latest that Buterin will write on privacy, the Ethereum co-founder said he is increasing his focus on privacy in the Ethereum ecosystem because of centralization risks. According to him, most people focus on centralized technical infrastructure, but centralized data collection is also a major concern.

He said:

“When people in the real world express concern about centrally operated technical infrastructure, the concern is sometimes about operators changing the rules unexpectedly or deplatforming users, but just as often, it’s about data collection.”

Buterin observed that the risks are even higher now with the development of artificial intelligence, as this technology makes it easier to centralize data collection and analysis. He noted that future technologies, such as brain-computer interfaces, could even pose a great risk.

Buterin debunks assumptions about transparency

Meanwhile, Buterin spent a major part of his essay debunking previous theories and assumptions about the need for transparency. According to him, the assumptions that led people to advocate for transparency decades ago have turned out to be wrong.

These assumptions, which include the beliefs that government will become better-intentioned and that society will grow more tolerant and accepting, have not come to pass. Instead, no one agrees that governments have the best intentions, and culture has regressed and become less tolerant.

Buterin used his own case as an example, noting that he is subject to privacy intrusions because of his popularity. According to him, this is unusual and proves the need for privacy, especially because several others are also in such unusual circumstances.

He said:

“Privacy gives you the freedom to live your life in a way that best suits your personal goals and needs, without having to constantly balance every action between “the private game” (your own needs) and “the public game”

The Ethereum co-founder also countered the opinion that the government should have backdoors allowing them access to privacy. He noted that authorities today already have access to more information than at any time in history, even without requiring a warrant.

Thus, he believes that the risk of backdoors, such as abuse, illegal transfer and use, hacking, and other factors, make them untenable. For him, privacy is important because it represents freedom, order, and progress.

Buterin advocates for ZK-SNARKS and FHE

With Buterin highlighting why privacy is necessary, he also discussed solutions for implementing it on blockchain networks. According to him, the blockchain industry relegated privacy discussions to the background before now because there was no technology to guarantee that.

However, he believes Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proof technology offers the best solution to privacy and identity challenges today as it can provide sufficient information to prove trustworthiness while protecting identity.

The Ethereum co-founder also mentioned fully homomorphic encryption  (FHE) as another promising technology that enables people to compute over data without seeing the data and noted that things could get even better with obfuscation.

Based on these technologies, Buterin believes that several solutions can be developed to enable privacy without compromising security. He listed some solutions to include ZK proof of personhood, on-device anti-fraud scanning, privacy pools, and proof of provenance for physical items.

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