> hoops you need to jump through to protect your privacy / shield your address in the US is quite incredible
The U.S. has a decentralized land registration system. The downside is it usually cannot provide indefeasible title [1]. The upside is it's tremendously robust. That robustness comes, in part, from publicly-verifiable records.
> People's home addresses shouldn't be public info
Confidential property ownership has its own issues.
It's less stable. In the event of a dispute you only have the registrar's and disputing owners' records to consult. It's also associated with embezzlement, money laundering and tax fraud. (The set of societies where a public home address puts one at risk and the set that have problems with embezzlement and laundering overlap in their institutional weakness.)
(For tenants, on the other hand, there are fewer compelling reasons to publish residence.)
The U.S. has a decentralized land registration system. The downside is it usually cannot provide indefeasible title [1]. The upside is it's tremendously robust. That robustness comes, in part, from publicly-verifiable records.
> People's home addresses shouldn't be public info
Confidential property ownership has its own issues.
It's less stable. In the event of a dispute you only have the registrar's and disputing owners' records to consult. It's also associated with embezzlement, money laundering and tax fraud. (The set of societies where a public home address puts one at risk and the set that have problems with embezzlement and laundering overlap in their institutional weakness.)
(For tenants, on the other hand, there are fewer compelling reasons to publish residence.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrens_title#Indefeasibility_...