It is clear block.one is undertaking something huge with Voice.
block.one re-confirms the February 14th Voice beta with "verified identity" (KYC validated) & says Voice token will be fully compliant with US securities law & will meet AML requirements & protect personal privacy data.
Users must verify with their real names using KYC to be eligible to receive Voice tokens. Users who do not register may read content but not participate.
Notable quotes:
"For Beta and in our future planning, we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that the Voice token will be fully compliant with US securities law."
"Our task is to follow the law, but still stay true to our guiding principle – Voice must be a place for an open & authentic exchange of ideas."
"Voice being a social media platform means we’re also grappling with the often-thorny question of content moderation."
"It seems that every day, somewhere in the world, there is a new law passed or proposed that is intended to dictate how social media platforms moderate content."
"Our task is to follow the law, but still stay true to our guiding principle–Voice must be a place for an open & authentic exchange of ideas."
"Making the right judgments about how to comply with rules that are in a state of flux requires constant engagement with leaders across our organization, regular advice from our external legal advisors and, sometimes, direct discussion with regulators."
https://voice.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-at-voice-legal-compliance/
My Thoughts
I can't help but wonder that with all of this compliance, will Voice be truly censorship resistant?
If a government does not approve of some content on the Voice platform, it could target block.one or command it to take certain actions (content removal) otherwise face consequences. This is the risk that a centralized organizational control poses over a social media platform. However, block.one is trying something new, and an improvement over the status quo of social media.
With this in mind, it seems Voice will be a more fair & non-manipulable social media platform, but it will still be subject to the laws & potential wishes/whims of governments.
Also, what happened to the biometric unique ID feature that block.one talked about last year (2019)? It seems that is not being discussed at this point and it has been replaced with KYC (for US citizens).
Some users may not want to use their full real names online, for privacy reasons. What will these users do?
I am still very excited for all that Voice will bring to the table.
If nothing else, REAL PEOPLE & REAL OPINIONS will be represented, instead of artificially pushed media. This in itself will be a huge step forward for mankind as the social media we digest on a daily basis affects our lives so deeply.
One thing is for sure: block.one is 100% devoted to Voice and changing the landscape of social media.
Exciting times ahead.
