The issue of identity is a major issue for cryptocurrencies and when it comes to creating new accounts for Steem that are free to the end user, we need a way to prevent abuse - but do we support anonymity or requires some form of id?
Steemit Inc. has toyed with the idea of using external third party companies to provide 'Know your customer' (KYC) services to Steem that enable a '1 account, 1 human' feature that protects the blockchain against abuse. This, though, means that we cannot have anonymous accounts and also probably require new users to have government ID or something similar. For me, these requirements go against some of the basic principles that make blockchain and cryptocurrency and evolution over the systems they may one day replace. The design that is being worked on for @steempassport will not require any kind of ID to be provided by the end user in order for them to access a free account, yet should still result in a system that is difficult to abuse/game and this will be done in several ways.
Accounts that are incubated will be effectively filtered by the Steem community and only those users who produce great content will be able to receive free accounts. This solves, to some extent, the issue of abuse and empowers the community to be it's own 'doorman'. The alternative solutions for account creation, that do not involve an incubation process will benefit from realtime monitoring to analyse abusive behavior by new accounts - potentially allowing for any delegated Steem Power to be undelegated in the event of certain rules being breached. This is essentially how Steemit inc. operates today, except that our system will be more automated.
A design document outlining the plan for @steempassport will be made available soon.
Andreas Antonopoulos (@aantonop) just uploaded a brief video addressing the issue of identification on the blockchain and why his position is the same as mine with regards the use of ID documents on blockchain systems. What do you think of his thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!
Our aim is to make joining Steem simple and fun, while enable everyone to access free accounts that also have enough Steem power for them to be functional.
Join us in our Discord Space if you have questions, feedback or want to help out with time, resources or a delegation.