Servury: KYC fails at the only thing it claims to do

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Just wrote this article, I’m eager to hear what you guys think.

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loving your blogs!

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Nice article for explaining the dangers of KYC and some ways to get around it.

Every company that collects your identity documents is making a bet.

Most services who do KYC do it because have a gun pointed at their head, not because they made a bet. Many countries worldwide have mandatory KYC laws for a range of services. Blaming services for KYC they do involuntarily is unfair. On one hand they will go to jail if they don’t do KYC, on the other hand they will go to jail if KYC information is leaked. What should banks, hotels, phone companies, crypto exchanges etc that are subject to KYC mandates do instead?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending KYC. KYC is a cancer that has infected the world, and freeing people and services from it is a difficult task.

What annoys me are staff who make up excuses like “prevent crime” or “identity verification” instead of honestly saying they are being coerced into complying with KYC laws, and services that do KYC voluntarily. Explaining KYC’s dangers or debunking KYC’s official purposes (for instance “prevent crime”) to staff can help.

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Very well written, and I whole heartedly agree with you’re message. I hope the philosophy of No-KYC starts catching on more, as things are starting to get ridiculous in terms of how much data is collected for every little thing you do online.

One thing I feel that was left out (or maybe out of scope of your article) is Data Brokers and Advertisers, and how they give many companies a vested interest in collecting excessive data despite it putting their own customers at risk of such breaches. They not only want to know about every purchase you make, but what emotion you felt while you were making it and they are prepared to spend millions lobbying politicians to ensure that’s what they get.

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Very much agree and I do share exactly the same POV as a dev.
Not easy to implement but sometimes it’s worth the effort huh, people should start caring a tiny bit more. :unamused_face:

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