# Contrarian: privacy-first can undermine decentralization and innovation

- **Speaker:** Greg Osuri
- **Attribution:** attributed
- **Said:** 2021-11-15
- **Theme:** Other — https://www.gregosuri.com/predictions/other/
- **Source:** Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit 2021: Featuring Glenn Greenwald, Dr. Steven Waterhouse, and more! (Orchid Labs)
- **Watch at:** 04:29:52 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6eqn72dqzs&t=16192s
- **Canonical:** https://www.gregosuri.com/predictions/other/2021-11-15-contrarian-privacy-first-can-undermine-decentraliz-mii7/
- **Cite as:** Greg Osuri, "Contrarian: privacy-first can undermine decentralization and innovation," Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit 2021: Featuring Glenn Greenwald, Dr. Steven Waterhouse, and more! (Orchid Labs), 15 Nov 2021, 04:29:52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6eqn72dqzs&t=16192s

## Quote — verbatim

> If you put privacy first, that is inherently dangerous for decentralization — I won't say dangerous, but that goes against the open system policy... when you have systems that are open, that leads to more participation, that leads to more innovation.

## Context — site annotation, not spoken

He doubles down at [04:31:16]: "privacy and decentralization may not go hand in hand... if the activity is private, that prohibits people from innovating on it." Tor Bair rebuts it as a false choice between permissionless and private.