Ethereum Bolsters Its Protocols to Counter Digital Surveillance Threats

The Ethereum Foundation takes a new step by launching the Privacy Cluster, a team entirely dedicated to network privacy. A strategic initiative that responds to the growing concerns about digital surveillance and the increasing need to protect user data.

Ethereum strengthens its security with the Privacy Cluster

The Ethereum Foundation officially announced on Wednesday the creation of the “Privacy Cluster,” a group of 47 experts from the blockchain industry. 

Researchers, engineers, and cryptographers join forces to integrate privacy features directly into Ethereum’s layer 1 protocol. This team will work closely with Privacy Stewards for Ethereum (PSE), the research initiative launched last September.

The goal? To develop concrete solutions to protect users. On the agenda: private payments, secure decentralized identity systems, and zero-knowledge infrastructure. This last technology allows verifying information without revealing the specific content. A major asset to preserve anonymity while maintaining network transparency.

The Privacy Cluster will also work on PlasmaFold, a layer 2 network designed for confidential transfers. Another priority project: preventing RPC nodes (remote procedure calls) from transmitting user metadata. These often overlooked data reveal much information about browsing habits and transactions.

This announcement comes at a strategic moment. The Foundation recently liquidated 1,000 ETH via CoW Swap to finance its network priorities, including these privacy projects. An allocation of resources reflecting the urgency given to this mission.

Privacy, new battlefield of Web3

Ethereum’s mobilization takes place in a tense global context. Governments are multiplying financial surveillance projects, while artificial intelligence opens new vectors of intrusion into privacy. 

The European Union perfectly illustrates this drift with its proposed law on “conversation control.” This text would allow member states unrestricted access to all citizens’ messaging traffic.

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, strongly opposed this initiative. “You cannot make society secure by making people insecure,” he asserted on social media. 

“We all deserve privacy and security, without inevitably hackable backdoors, for our private communications.” A statement resonating with the founding cypherpunk ethic of cryptocurrencies.

The risks are not theoretical. Last Wednesday, Discord suffered a massive hack exposing age verification data of 2.1 million users, including IDs and passports. The hackers now demand a ransom under threat of public disclosure. 

David Holtzman, former military intelligence expert and strategy director at Naoris, confirms to Cointelegraph: information stored on a centralized server makes it a honeypot for hackers and cybercriminals.

In response to these threats, decentralized Web3 solutions appear as a credible alternative. Ethereum’s Privacy Cluster could accelerate adoption of these technologies by users keen to regain control of their data.