Plugging the metadata leaks

Etherscan + HTTP referrers + external services = 💔

HTTP referrer headers track web request origins

• Etherscan 🠒 Google Analytics and Disqus
• Disqus 🠒 External integrated services

Plug the referral leaks

Providers must protect their users

• Do not integrate legacy web 2.0 services
• Do not use identifying information in URLs
• Do use strict Referrer-Policy HTTP restrictions

Users must protect themselves

• Use ad, social and tracker blocking extensions*
• Use mobile browsers that permit blocking trackers*

Plug the geolocation leaks

Would you publicize your location and Ethereum address?

• Cloudflare can link your IP and Ethereum wallet
• Etherscan can link your IP and Ethereum wallet
• Infura can link your IP and Ethereum wallet

Anonymize your IP address with Tor!

Web 3.0

Diving into discovery

Phases of connecting to Ethereum

• Discover peers via public bootnodes
• Randomly connect peers to stabilize

Nodes maintain a Kademlia routing table

• Every node picks a random ID (pubkey)
• Track ID-to-IP mappings in prefix groups
• Do random lookups while table is sparse
• Integrate any unknown contacting nodes

Portable devices + Ethereum nodes + DHT = 💔

Node IDs and node IPs are public knowledge

• Accurate historical movement tracking 😱
• By anyone, anywhere in the world 😭😭😭

Nodes should switch to ephemeral IDs (?)

• What about bootnodes? Stable nodes? Vipnode?

Diving into light clients

• Sync and verify only headers ⇔ state root cannot be verified
• Assume good connectivity ⇔ converges on the correct chain
• State retrieved on-demand ⇔ limit traffic to interesting data

Light clients + on-demand retrieval + limited servers = 💔

Light clients only retrieve useful data

• Servers can map IPs to Ethereum accounts
• Stable servers can track geographical movements

Anonymize your IP address with Tor (?)

• What about embedded devices? Connectivity and validity guarantees?

Takeaway nuggets

Full nodes are the most powerful anonymizers in crypto, because they make everyone look the same and act the same. Every shortcut is an exchange of privacy for convenience!

Privacy on Ethereum is currently worse than the surveillance paradise of the legacy web. We have the knowledge to fix it (Tor, I2P); let's prioritize and fund it before inertia sets in!

Privacy is not up to users to get right, because they won't know any better. It is our job as platform-, dapp- and decentralized system developers to protect them from ourselves!

Thank you