The Ethereum co-founder argues location leaks can harm vulnerable users, even when only general regions are exposed.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has advocated for X to rethink its new geo-inference system.
The call comes amid growing scrutiny of how tech firms collect and use customer data.
Buterin Flags Privacy Risks in X’s Country Labels
Social media platform X recently rolled out a new feature that shows the country of origin for user accounts as part of a push for transparency and handling misinformation. However, not everyone is fully supportive of the update, with Buterin foreseeing some negative long-term effects.
The 31-year-old, a long-time advocate for decentralization and privacy, said on X that labeling accounts by country would have mixed results. He explained that although it might bring some short-term benefits, sophisticated users could easily fake their locations using rented passports, phone numbers, or IP addresses.
Geo-inference systems are made to figure out an individual’s location without GPS by analyzing information like IP addresses, device settings, and online activity.
The Ethereum co-founder went on to predict that within six months of having this feature, political troll accounts from various regions would likely appear as if they were from the United States or the United Kingdom.
He added that while revealing the general area usually leaves people mostly anonymous, some could be at risk even from small leaks, and their privacy should not be taken away without a way to protect themselves.
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Geo-Inference Should Be Optional and Transparent
Buterin has also suggested that geo-inference should have an opt-in choice and be transparent. “I thought about this more and I think responders are right that revealing the country non-consensually without offering any opt-out option (not even “stop using your account”) is wrong,” he wrote.
He further explained that what would be ideal is a system that gives people clearer insight into how different communities think, in a way that is hard to manipulate. However, he admitted that building this would be very difficult to achieve.
The programmer has long championed privacy in Ethereum, believing everyone should be able to use the network safely and anonymously. Earlier this year, he proposed a roadmap to make private transactions and hidden activity easy to handle by using tools like stealth addresses, mixers, and zero-knowledge proofs, without changing the entire system.
Most recently, he also introduced the GKR protocol to reduce the cost and increase the scalability of ZK proofs, which form the basis of Ethereum’s privacy and scalability infrastructure. This feature supports private finance, secure voting, and digital identity more efficiently while keeping user data safe.
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