When you gaze out upon the open field of privacy-centric coins and tokens, it’s hard not to see the word “privacy.” You are, after all, looking at that specific genre. So it stands to reason that you’d see the word over and over again. However, when you look at what that word has come to mean- well, that’s when it's time to rethink the intended goal.
Few people noticed, some thought they just remembered wrong, and others (like myself) called their doctor because they felt they were losing their memory. I am, of course, talking about PIVX’s namesake. Today you’ll see that it stands for Protected Instant Verified Transactions. It was only a few months ago that the “P” in PIVX stood for private.
The change
Someone in the PIVX community mentioned in the ever-buzzing Discord chat that the meaning of the word private has become somewhat deteriorated, and the core team paused at that. At one time it invoked a thought that if something was private, it wasn’t intended for public viewing. Unfortunately, it’s now become a word to insinuate you're doing something bad. Over time the word has become less of “I’d rather not share this” and more of “I have something to hide, and it may be illegal.” That’s not what this project is about.
Don’t get me wrong, we as a team respect the sacred meaning of privacy- if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be part of PIVX. That said, though, we’re also very conscious of world affairs and perception. And life had taught me perception can be everything.
What’s in a word?
When you look up the word protect, as it applied to a digital application, the Oxford dictionary denotes it as,
“to restrict access to or use of”
So, to keep your identity and financial data secure, our dev team’s been working to protect that information from those who don’t have the right to see it. But, you also have to admit that it sounds much better when you say, “I want to protect that,” instead of “I want to privacy that.” Tell me I’m wrong.
Other than a word choice, nothing at PIVX has changed concerning our outlook on keeping our users safe and working to make the world a better place.
Questions, Comments, or Concerns? Contact me via [email protected]. (Where the “P” stands for “Protected.”)
