Recently I decided to change my avatar, it was a stock picture and was only ever meant to be temporary. The problem was, while I had an image in my head, it was too vague and I didn't feel I could pull it off.
It's not that the image is a particular complicated one. I've used a few images I pulled from pixabay and Unsplash, and created an effect that I really like.
The problem was that I wanted the composite image to reflect me and my work in some way, and I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. Until I had seen this image:
I like it because this is how I feel a lot of the time, like I'm some kind of living mirror reflecting back what society shows me.
The other parts of the image reflect my love of technology and my wish to one day be a fully fledged, transitional-human, or cyborg as it is better known.
While I was making the avatar, I started musing on a subject that rattles around my brain from time to time. That is the subject of reliably identifying yourself online, so that you are happy with the level of privacy, and a stranger is happy with the level of verification you've given.
Anonymous Identifiers
Whilst there are pictures of me online and in particular on the blockchain, I didn't want my avatar to be a photograph.
More so, I wanted the avatar to reflect the idea of @cryptogee and at the same time identify me across various platforms.
When I joined Steemit there was a big thing about verifying your account. That is to say, making a post with your picture in it and a piece of paper with the words Steemit and the current date.
It seemed that this was a new phenomena with Steemit, purely because of the rewards. It is one thing if somebody pretends to be a celebrity or famous blogger for the fun of it, but what about if that person does it to make money?
This clearly isn't acceptable either for the people being impersonated, nor the ones being fooled into giving rewards.
As we move forwards through this century and beyond, the need to reliably identify oneself online, whilst also retaining the level of privacy you desire, is only going to grow in importance.
Whether it be rewards obtained from the blockchain, or ones derived from advertising revenue, making sure those rewards are being rightfully claimed is becoming top priority.
Cryptogee Encoded
At the recent Steemfest event every attendee was issued with a QR code when they bought their ticket. This rather handy feature linked back to our Steemit accounts, and meant that, by using the Steemfest app, we could scan each other's codes and store them on our phones.
I like QR codes because they are easy and compact, you can pass on your QR in just a few seconds, and there is nothing for you to remember.
As a security measure and way of verifying me the QR code is by no means perfect. Of course I could put my QR into my avatar, however this is easily copy and pasted.
However QR codes do highlight the benefit of being able to easily identify yourself in a given situation. They are not the answer, yet they do point tantalisingly to a possible solution.
Wouldn't it be great if on some future social platform I could open up an account, put in my anonymous identifier and that verifies 100% that the account is mine?
That way I could have either one name across all of my accounts. Or I could even have several different accounts, but all identified as me.
Of course this wouldn't be forced upon you, however it would be there as an option so that on any content that might be rewarded in some way, your contributors are satisfied they are giving money to you and not some random chancer trying to steal money using your reputation.
Putting Meaning Into Rep
Steemit has highlighted, or perhaps given new meaning to online reputation. In the past it didn't matter if your twitter or youtube account represented a real person, even with advertising revenue brought into the picture nobody really cared.
If for some reason you became a social pariah because of something you'd done on twitter, who cares? You just open a new account and on you go.
However this is the new internet era, we are in the age of informationalism, a time whereby having access to certain information can have serious advantages, either through chat rooms on Discord, Telegram, or Slack. Or being part of blockchain communities on Steem, Whaleshares, Neo, or EOS.
Therefore the people who can truly identify themselves will have far more access to these kernels of information. Which means that the reputations of the verified profiles are extremely precious.
For instance I have spent the last two and a half years building up a solid reputation on the Steem blockchain that I believe reflects my character in real life. The last thing I'm going to do is ruin it by promoting something to my followers that may be dodgy. Or start behaving in a way that causes people to mistrust me.
In the past I didn't care about my online reputation, or at least didn't think about it. Now it is just as important to me as my real-world rep.
DNA-Linking
Until we can come up with a better solution, using our DNA as a security key will soon be the best option we have when it comes to verifying beyond a shadow of a doubt who we are online.
However with every new advancement in technology, comes potentially new ways to commit fraud. At the moment if you go through the distressing process of having your identity stolen, you can inevitably retrieve the pieces of paper and digital information that has enabled somebody to steal your details.
If someone stole your identity using a DNA key, that could end up causing you a hell of a lot more distress as there would literally be another you walking around the place, making decisions on your behalf.
Solution
I think the solution will ultimately be keys based on our DNA (and ultimately our thoughts), that way it would not be possible for someone to become you just because they got some of your saliva from a glass you were drinking from at the bar last night. They would need some kind of cryptographic key with it, that only you and you alone would ever know.
For now though, changing your avatar, or putting a message on one of your verified accounts is the only way to quickly and reliably verify any of your online personas.
Until science gives us a thought-locked, DNA-coded failsafe. We'll just have to rely on photographs and bits of paper!
IS VERIFICATION IMPORTANT TO YOU? HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE THAT AN ACCOUNT YOU MAY REWARD IS VERIFIED? HOW HAVE YOU VERIFIED YOUR ACCOUNT? OR PERHAPS YOU BELIEVE THIS ISN'T AN ISSUE AND PRIVACY IS THE NUMBER ONE ONLINE PRIORITY?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!