After the Uniswap (UNI) protocol, we learn that MetaMask will now collect certain information from its users. Indeed, according to the new privacy policy of ConsenSys, its parent company, the IP data of Ethereum (ETH) wallet users will now be collected when they use Infura’s default RPC.
ConsenSys changes its privacy policy
In an update to its privacy policy dated November 23, ConsenSys, the parent company of the famous MetaMask walletannounced that she would now collect the IP address of its users when these will use the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Infurai.e. the one used by default in the browser extension.
Infura is a series of tools developed for the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, which notably includes the Truffle development environment, Diligence Blockchain Security and of course MetaMask.
In addition, we learn on the ConsenSys privacy policy page that the company collects certain information when a user visits the Codefi site or uses its services, which includes their identity and contact informationits transaction history, and information relating to the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
ConsenSys announced an update to its privacy policy on November 23 (including metamask infura and more): When you use Infura as your default RPC provider in MetaMask, Infura will collect your IP address and your Ethereum wallet address when you send a transaction. pic.twitter.com/cBsqU2374o
—Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 24, 2022
As shown in the capture above, you can bypass this new data collection by setting up your own Ethereum node or using another RPC provider for MetaMask.
If you are curious and want to run your own node, we invite you to turn to the official Ethereum documentation on this subject, entirely in French and accessible in a popular way.
To turn to another RPC, you can find some nodes on Ethereum Nodes. Be aware, however, that once you decide to transit via a third-party RPC, the latter is likely to collect some of your data.
In the meantime, you can preserve your location and IP address by using a VPN. We invite you to read our NordVPN tutorial for this purpose.
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The very dissatisfied crypto community
Of course, such news did not cheer the Web3 community, which, by definition, seeks to preserve his privacy. This is the case for example of a moderator of the PixelVault game:
It was fun whilst it lasted @MetaMask but I value my privacy in this space. Changing wallets ASAP.
—gooniebrad (@gooniebrad) November 24, 2022
“It was fun so far, but I value my privacy in this space. I change my wallet as soon as possible. »
Note however that a developer of MetaMask intervened under the tweet of Wu Blockchain in order to calm things down and put the situation into perspective:
I think we can get this fixed soon. We are not using IP addresses even if they are being temporarily stored, which they don’t need to be, as we’re not using them for anything.
— Dan Finlay 🦊💙 (@danfinlay) November 24, 2022
“I think we will soon be able to fix this problem. We do not use IP addresses, even if they are stored temporarily, which is not necessary, because we do not use them for anything. »
The news comes just days after we learned that Uniswap, a benchmark decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, collected the on-chain addresses of its users in order to ” verify that its users are not involved in illicit activities “.
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Source: ConsenSys
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