A blog post from March 14 says that the developer of the Web3 wallet app MetaMask has added a number of new features that give users more control and privacy. MetaMask has been criticized in the past for allegedly breaking its users' privacy. The new features are a response to these complaints.
🦊MetaMask Mobile v6 is now available to everyone! Our biggest release yet fixes issues around slow load times and provides a new and improved UX that gives users more control over their funds and digital identities.
- MetaMask 🦊💙 (@MetaMask) March 14, 2023
Upgrade to the latest version today💪 https://t.co/tGtA4GUXR1
Before, when a user first set up the wallet, MetaMask used its Infura RPC node to automatically connect to Ethereum. Chase Wright, who runs an Ethereum node, said that even though the user could change the settings later, their public address was sent to Infura before they could change their node.
Users of the new "10.25.0" version of the Metamask extension are asked if they want to use "advanced configuration" during installation. This option shows several settings that can be changed, including one that lets the user choose an RPC node other than the default one for Infura.
The "advanced configuration" dialogue box lets the user enter their own node information and turn off incoming transactions, phishing detection, and enhanced token detection. The app's user interface says that data needs to be sent to third parties like Etherscan and jsDeliver for these features to work. Users can now turn off these features during setup if they want to protect their privacy.
The post says that the new mobile version of MetaMask has more privacy features. Before, users couldn't connect one Web3 account to an app while disconnecting another. The user could only connect all of them at once or none of them at all.
The new version, on the other hand, lets users choose which accounts they want to connect to an app without giving away the other addresses they control.
Metamask said in a blog post that it has always tried to protect the privacy of its users and that it thinks these new features are in line with this goal, saying:
"Data exploitation goes against MetaMask core values. Instead, we believe in equipping our community with the founding principles that guide our development - true ownership and privacy [...] We are committed to protecting the privacy of our users so that you will not, and ultimately, cannot be exploited by yet another centralized entity."
On November 23, the crypto community gave MetaMask a lot of criticism for putting out a privacy policy that said it would track users' IP addresses. ConsenSys responded to the criticism on November 24 by saying that RPC nodes have always collected IP addresses and that the privacy policy is not new, even though its language has changed. ConsenSys said on December 6 that Infura would no longer keep IP addresses for longer than seven days.
Content Source: cointelegraph.com
About MahKa
MahKa loves exploring the decentralized world. She writes about NFTs, the metaverse, Web3 and similar topics.
