I don't really know why you need to know where your dev lives and how his face looks like.
They don't, but someone said that devs of a
decentralized project must be not anonymous and sheeple repeats this mantra. Repeating doesn't involve brain cells as was shown in "1984".
I would agree with you in a perfect world where all the end users are capable of compiling the jar from source and could instantly scan and detect any bugs or malicious code without effort with every version.
In the real world, less than 0.1% of users will compile from source , even if they are capable and any programmer knows that thorough audits take time and don't give 100% confirmation that malicious code isn't present.
Having a transparent development process with known developers
absolutely does not eliminate all bugs and malicious code from entering in the software, but what it does allow is a higher level of accountability if something does go wrong and it allows people to make better informed judgements as to the motivations of certain developers and gives preemptive clues as to what to watch out for from certain contributors to the source. Additionally, understanding the background of the developers can give us some understanding of their technical proficiency based upon other projects they have worked on.
The fact that we can research who Jeff Garzik is , and what companies he worked for in the past is very helpful in understanding his motivations and biases.
It is frightening that I have to explain this to you and anyone else reading with a critical eye should be similarity warned. Using the big bad government as an excuse to stay in the shadows is not a good enough excuse when dealing with Fintech with peoples life savings and there are plenty of other Anarchist developers that have the courage and moral fortitude to reveal themselves. I am not saying that all developers need to be transparent but with Fintech it is a completely different matter with different stakes.
So if BCNext wants to pull a Satoshi that is fine but the code should be developed in a more transparent manner after he has stepped aside.