ConsenSys Founder: We Will Not Exploit, Monetize IP Data

Joseph Lubin, the founder of ConsenSys (the developer of MetaMask and its default RPC Infura), responded to concerned users following an update to his company's privacy policy, which indicated that IP addresses are collected by the RPC.

"Infura does not exploit this data, nor does ConsenSys monetize it," said Lubin in a 21-tweet thread. "Infura is pursuing technical solutions to minimize data collection, including anonymization techniques and complete elimination of data collected."

RPC, which stands for Remote Procedure Call, allows communications with a remote server or computer. On the blockchain, RPCs let users see in MetaMask whether they succeeded or failed in a transaction on a specific network.

Lubin said RPCs need to know the IP address of the device sending a request.

"Why you might ask? The answer is actually pretty standard for how web infrastructure works," Lubin said. "First, the blockchain address is necessary because it is part of the request sent to a blockchain. The IP address is also required in order to route the response back to the requester."

Author Bio

TD Marquis

A veteran journalist and editor with more than a decade's worth of experience, TD helped a small community newspaper in Vermont win a New England Newspaper Association Right to Know Award in 2014. TD helped compile five years' worth of invoices to uncover a long-established practice of small-town government officials paying themselves six figures to do small jobs around town. TD discovered NFTs with Top Shot in 2021 and his first NFTs on ETH were saving two Mooncats. He is now the proud owner of Rowhome #61 and 1,300 other NFTs of questionable value. He also sent 4 ETH to a fake Mekaverse site and wants Lucky Trader readers to avoid the same fate.

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