Don't be so quick to uninstall Blockfolio

Blog Bitcoin Error Log is reporting that Blockfolio is intercepting user-submitted data, that is to say trades that have been made. Many users are quick to uninstall the app and are causing a lot of FUD.

Accusers have yet to establish Blockfolio's motive in doing this - if you want to see what trades are being made, simply look at the public charts. Blockfolio's data shouldn't really be trusted either as it is user-submitted and hence is not as credible as the public ledger. Some users are surmising that one's portfolio can now perhaps be matched to his or her unique phone ID (Android/iOS). Many users have already uninstalled the app out of fear.

Digging into Blockfolio's Telegram chat, the following comments among many others were made:

Blockfolio_ed: "We don't use data to make money or plan to other than information in aggregate (never any individual info, more like 3000 people hold ZEC)"

"to date we've never sold a bit of data but it's an option we reserve for the future because that's how things remain free; that's Mint.com's model"

Blockfolio_Charlie: "that's correct. any information that we would use wouldn't be associated with any accounts. only bulk information in aggregate form; to date we haven't used info in this way but we are reserving the right"

Blockfolio's privacy statement reveals the following:

"Uses of Information
We do not sell, rent or trade your individual Personal Information or Log Data to unrelated third parties. We may share, sell or rent aggregated data with third parties to compile usage trends and statistics, for research purposes, and for other general analysis. This aggregate user data does not contain your Personal Information, Log Data or other personally identifiable information or specific information about your Blockfolio Properties portfolio."

There is more and I would encourage all users to read through the privacy statement. My thoughts on all of this are:

1. Any app/service that is entirely free and growing and in need of ongoing support must derive revenue from somewhere to remain sustainable. It is naive to think otherwise. These apps and services are valuable because of the information you are submitting to them.

2. The spirit of the Blockfolio devs, in my opinion, is to support the userbase without compromise. They are active on Twitter and easily reachable on Telegram. They have no obligation nor need to do any of this, as they could simply continue to add pairs at their discretion and announce this within the app. They have thoroughly defended their use of said data and to their credit, you already agreed to their use of this.

3. It is key to note that Blockfolio avoids releasing user-identifying information and only disseminates aggregate data. This is par for the course.

I am going to keep Blockfolio unless news of a hack or the like is discovered. I am not particularly concerned. Beyond that, I would advise not to use any of its sharing/social media functionality as you are then possibly putting forth user-identifying information surrounding your portfolio. Finally, if you are going to make use of any service whereby you are submitting data - it is your responsibility to understand what you are agreeing to in exchange for said services.