New changes to ConsenSys’ API tool Infura, which will begin collecting users’ IP addresses, have generated uproar in the cryptocurrency industry.
ConsenSys has alerted customers that it intends to collect extra information from people utilizing its popular Infrura application, drawing outrage on social media.
Infura is an API-based platform that enables users to connect their application to the Ethereum network, which serves as the foundation for other important Web3 projects, including Aragon, Gnosis, OpenZeppelin, and ConsenSys’ own flagship wallet service MetaMask.
Infrura was acquired by the New York-based blockchain company in late 2019, and the tool currently boasts about 350,000 developers and supports additional blockchains like as Polygon and Filecoin.
In accordance with updated ConsenSys privacy policies, if you conduct a transaction using Infura as your default remote procedure call (RPC) provider in MetaMask, it will gather your IP address and Ethereum wallet address.
If you are utilizing your own Ethereum node or a third-party RPC provider with MetaMask, ConsenSys says that “neither Infura nor MetaMask will collect your IP address or Ethereum wallet address.”
Alternative RPCs that Ethereum developers can leverage include Alchemy, QuickNode, Moralis, and Tatum. These products also have their own data collecting rules, which may be modified in the future.
However, ConsenSys is not the only company that has recently decided to increase the quantity of customer data it collects. The decentralized exchange Uniswap has lately begun gathering off-chain data, such as the type of device or browser used by users, in an effort to enhance the user experience.
The data collected, according to Uniswap, did not contain additional types of personally identifiable information, such as the user’s first or last name, full address, date of birth, email address, or IP address.
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