By George Ward
Following a recent update in its data collection policies, MetaMask, one of the industry’s well-known wallet providers, was slammed by many in the crypto community. MetaMask announced changes to its privacy policies last month, which sparked rumors that it would lead to the acquisition of users’ IP addresses and wallets.
The cryptocurrency community, which has established a reputation for being extremely privacy-conscious, reacted immediately to the policy update. The crypto community expressed its concerns on social media, with Reddit flooded with complaints about the development.
According to some users, there would soon be a governance token that could help prevent such changes. However, ConsenSys’s founder Joseph Lubin clarified the role of ConsenSys in MetaMask’s revised privacy policy.
Lubin explained that ConsenSys was the wallet provider’s developer and nothing else. Then, he added that the wallet’s default Remote Procedure Call (RPC) provider, Infura, played no role in its operation.
In an official statement, ConsenSys stated that the change is intended to increase transparency. It outlines some critical factors concerning the policy that may elicit an adverse reaction.
However, It stated that the data collection only applies to write requests or on-chain transactions. Therefore, if MetaMask users only check their balances, the platform doesn’t store any account information.
ConsenSys plans to limit the amount of time it keeps user data before deleting it to seven days. Additionally, it proclaims that user data will never be sold. Users of MetaMask would also have the choice to use an RPC service other than Infura, which happens to be MetaMask’s default Remote Procedure Call (RPC) provider.
Consensys Makes Clarifications
ConsenSys also clarified that the most recent MetaMask update did not involve forceful data collection or processing. However, the co-founder of MetaMask, Dan Finlay, stated that there were some legitimate criticisms and concerns.
According to Finlay, these concerns occurred because ConsenSys decided to become more transparent about handling data collection, particularly by those with the highest privacy standards.
Nevertheless, when users interact with an RPC service, such as Infura, their IP address is always visible. Therefore, MetaMask cannot wholly disable logging IP addresses, but ConsenSys will stop logging user IP information alongside transaction data. Hence, it would become more difficult for the company to link users to a particular transaction activity.
ConsenSys also stated that the MetaMask interface would be updated. But it also warned users to take extra precautions by avoiding Infura if they want to keep their privacy.
A ConsenSys statement read, “from a privacy standpoint, we caution that these alternatives may not provide more privacy.” Users must remember that Alternative RPC providers have varying privacy and data practices. Additionally, self-hosting a node may make it easier for others to link your wallet to your IP address.