You bring up a good point. We've discussed a number of times through the thread how we will handle user data and protect their privacy. I think this is something we definitely need to include in the whitepaper for clarity purposes but here's the rundown of the basics.
1: What does the website track.
We do not record any IP addresses, browser information or even what accounts are watching what items. The exception to this obviously is if you are adding items to your playlist/watch later/alert list but passively using the site generates no logs on our side.
2: How is user data anonymized.
Our website salts + hashes both your username and password. We have no way to view your email address or password and the mailing list data is not associated with your account in any way. If in the extreme circumstance of the website's database being compromised, there would be nothing linking your email address (mailing list) to your account (what you've uploaded to the site).
3: How users should protect themselves.
Depending on your country of origin, using torrents may or may not have consequences. Our website will contain a disclaimer reminding users to be aware of their local laws and to take measures to protect themselves. We STRONGLY recommend that if you live in an area where torrenting has legal consequences that you use a VPN. As part of the site's monetization model we will prominently feature VPN advertisements and guides on what they are, how to use them and why you should.
4: Centralized website.
This is both true and false. During the initial launch phase the database and web host are being routed through a number of servers in various countries. If a host were ever seized, taken offline or otherwise interfered with, there would be full backups ready for the site to fall back on. During this phase we will be using a number of methods to re-route the portal to the correct host. This is a similar approach to what sites like thepiratebay use and even with all the pressure, they've suffered virtually 0 downtime in the past few years. Our goal is to push a step further by indexing all of our sites content (NOT user data) through decentralized methods. A simplified way to do this is to record the hash of submitted torrents using OP_RETURN so that in the case of catastrophic failure the site can easily restore its data within minutes/hours.
Thepiratebay and similar sites do not offer in browser streaming, they are filled with ads (many of which are malicious), they are not user friendly and they require 3rd party software. Those are the things our project aims to address and how our service will out perform them.
The entire purpose of the PureVidz project is to improve the torrenting experience to make it every bit as user friendly and streamlined as using a streaming service like youtube or netflix is.