Direct from the desk of Dane Williams.
A look at Web2’s ability to recover hacked accounts and why when it comes to censorship-resistance, you can’t have it both ways.
The balancing act between account recovery and censorship-resistance in Web3 is real.
We’ve likely all been in a scenario where we’ve fucked up and had one of our Web2 accounts compromised in some way shape or form.
Usually the solution is as simple as messaging the company, proving your identity and getting your Web2 account back.
Easy.
But while the ability to recover your account in this way is great, it also means that same company has all the power in the world to censor, ban or even commandeer your account whenever they please.
In today’s blog post I compare the advantages of Web2’s account recovery options with Web3’s censorship-resistance.
And ultimately make a case for why you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Can YouTube recover hacked accounts?
Yes, YouTube can recover hacked accounts.
All YouTube accounts are housed on YouTube’s servers which they are in complete and total control of at all times.
This is peak Web2 and absolutely fantastic when you let your guard down and find yourself with a compromised account.
Recently, YouTuber DidYouKnowGaming, with 2.4 million subscribers, reported a hack on his channel.
https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube/status/1651990912392736779
An anonymous bad actor hacked into his channel to promote XRP by changing the YouTuber's profile and cover images to Ripple's logo.
I take it the idea was to push some sort of phishing page with the bait being one of the most well known names in crypto.
But running their Web2 model, YouTube was able to help DidYouKnowGaming regain access to his channel swiftly. Y
The company's quick intervention ensured damage control by preventing the hacker from interacting with the channel's subscribers.
You can’t deny that in this case, it’s a win for all.
It’s certainly reassuring to know that the companies running Web2 platforms can help recover accounts when they are compromised.
But as we'll see in the next section, there's a flip side to this convenience.
That convenience comes at the cost of censorship-resistance.
Does this mean YouTube can also take over any account?
While it would be an extreme reaction, the answer is still yes.
YouTube has complete control over all the accounts on their platform, meaning they can take over any account at any time if they wanted to.
On the surface, this might seem like a good thing.
Just like in the case of DidYouKnowGaming, it means that YouTube has the power to recover accounts that have been hacked or taken over by bad actors.
But when you dig deeper, this is also a tradeoff.
By giving YouTube complete control over accounts, it means that the platform has zero censorship-resistance.
You are completely at the mercy of the standards, morals and whims of YouTube, a for-profit company with its own set of vested interests.
If YouTube decides that your account violates their terms of service, they can delete it without warning.
If YouTube decides that your content is inappropriate, they can demonetise it or even remove it from the platform altogether.
This is the trade-off you face between account recovery and censorship-resistance in Web3.
While it might be convenient to have a company like YouTube take care of account recovery for us, it also means that we're giving up control and putting our trust in a centralised authority.
Now YouTube seems trustworthy.
But like all powerful companies, they’re trustworthy until they’re not.
Once again, you can see the convenience of Web2 comes at a cost.
Can a hacked Web3 account be recovered?
The short answer is no, a hacked Web3 account cannot be recovered.
Take the example of Hive crypto (HIVE) accounts, which are housed on the Hive blockchain.
Unlike YouTube, there is no central authority controlling Hive accounts.
Just a network of distributed nodes, elected via stake weighted voting of an extremely well distributed coin that featured no pre-mine.
On Hive based Web3 platforms, content is published directly to the blockchain and each user has their own account that only they can control via private keys.
This means that accounts on Hive are truly censorship-resistant.
Nobody can take away your ability to publish to the blockchain via your Hive account.
Nobody.
However, this comes with the tradeoff of personal responsibility.
If you lose your keys or have them compromised, there is no one to save you.
Ever heard of the saying not your keys, not your crypto?
Well the same applies for your Web3 account.
You as an individual are solely responsible for your own security.
But as long as you're in control of your keys, you have full censorship-resistance.
This is a key difference between Web2 and Web3.
Web2 platforms might offer convenience and account recovery.
But that comes at the cost of control and censorship-resistance.
Account recovery and censorship-resistance: You can’t have it both ways
Unfortunately, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Censorship-resistance comes with extreme personal responsibility.
Web2 platforms like YouTube offer convenience and account recovery.
But at the cost of giving up full control (your account is actually not your account at all) and censorship-resistance.
On the other hand, Web3 platforms like those running on Hive, offer true censorship-resistance.
But with the tradeoff of requiring immense personal responsibility.
As we've seen this week with the example of DidYouKnowGaming, YouTube's ability to recover hacked accounts is impressive.
However, this is only possible because of the centralised control that YouTube has over its platform.
If you're looking for true censorship-resistance, then you'll need to turn to Web3 platforms like Filecoin (FIL) and the SPK Network, which use Hive accounts.
These platforms offer a more decentralised approach to content publishing and storage, where each user is solely responsible for your own account security.
This might be less convenient than the Web2 approach, but it also means that you remain in full control over your account and the content you can publish.
The bottom line is that with Web3, you are in control of your own security and have full censorship-resistance.
This is especially important for creators who derive revenue by having the ability to put your message in front of your audience.
For me, the message is clear.
While Web3 may require more personal responsibility, the benefits provided are unmatched by Web2.
Make the shift and start onboarding your Web2 audience onto a Web3 account today.
Best of probabilities to you.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
