You probably have seen the new pop-up asking to agree to the new Terms of Service and Privacy policy, and it's seriously making me consider leaving Steemit.
NEW TERMS
Firstly, the whole deal feels like it is contra-intuitive in a decentralized world. I realize that Steemit Inc. is a centralized gateway to the STEEM blockchain, which has to comply with laws but that still doesn't mean I have to like it.Some issues I have with the privacy statement include:
- Collecting personal information such as my telephone number (wtf?). If you want my email that's fine and it should be enough.
- They can change the privacy policy at any time, it says so in the statement itself
- They say they won't sell the information, but the new policy also states that they may share it when they do a new business deal and such
- The policy states they may use the privacy information for "reasons not described in this Privacy Policy" and that sounds fishy to me too
None of this sounds to me like it fits within how I experience and view the decentralized blockchain revolution and I am seriously wondering if I want to accept these terms. So far I have not. I have no idea how I'm still able to post through Steemit without having accepted it, but I think I was lucky to have the screen open before the new policy pop-up appeared.
MOVING TO BUSY?
STEEM is decentralized but Steemit isn't. I think this shows we need more variety in STEEM interfaces. Right now our options are limited to Steemit, Busy.org, Esteem. I am seriously considering moving over to Busy.org for the time being as I don't think they have this privacy policy or TOS (yet). But they are a centralized STEEM interface just as Steemit is, so I doubt it will be a long term solution. Esteem is nice, but mobile only, which is not an option for me as a content creator.Then there's the desktop STEEM client Vessel, but it only lets you access your STEEM and not actually make posts or read them (I think).
If STEEM is to be truly decentralized we need a proper desktop client and many more STEEM interfaces.
What do you all think of this new development? Do you know of any other STEEM interfaces/websites besides Steemit?
Cryptocurrency is not about "decentralizing" existing power structure. It is a technology that allows for exponential investment opportunities by eliminating the legal and commercial bureaucrats, currently necessary for large scale transactions from real estate to securities. Consider who benefits with major cryptocurrencies not being categorized as securities, and thus, exempt from SEC requirement of publicly disclosing information concerning security ownership by large entities. Idealism is highly unprofitable; we can be revolutionaries or wealthy. I prefer to be wealthy.
This is roughly as bad as saying Bitcoin was never meant to be money.
@wakeupsheeps once wrote: Steemit is naked capitalism dressed up as a revolutionary anarchist libertarian decentralised utopia. So true!
Take your pick of front-ends:
https://steemprojects.com/categories/social-media/
Some on the list are defunct (like chainbb & dmania). Probably the best options are busy.org and surfer:
https://github.com/eSteemApp/esteem-surfer/releases/tag/1.0.0
Yes ... 4real, what is up with that, I don't like it at all.
That shit made me pretty much drop steemit instantly :(
They are going to allow people to DCMA your content now. If I find out that a DCMA can result in having the post removed from the blockchain then I am dumping my bags all into EOS. :(
Yeah...
Are you on Busy now too?
I have always bounced between the two. Busy has some better stuff and its kind of a trade off. But now I will just be watching closely.
Oddly enough the TOS and privacy policy popup are gone from Steemit now... again...
Will be back though, they probably found a bug again somewhere
ah no, nm... It was only gone because it had logged me out. I could make the comment/post but had to sign in and then I got the pop-up again. But it did allow me to post the above comment even though the popup appeared right after