The concern about "protecting privacy and security" doesn't feel entirely convincing, given that the current hot-seat setup already leaves privacy and security largely in the hands of the players. For instance, anyone hosting a game can see connecting IP addresses and can already run the game on a modified host anyway.
As for the second account, it didn't seem like uff was trying to hide anything, especially since the username was so similar to his main one. It looks like he only did it to work around current system limitations so he could actually host and play at the same time.
I actually had similar ideas about setting up my own hosts, but I didn't want to pay for a GPU-enabled hosting service, and I haven't yet found the time to modify the engine. Specifically, it requires decoupling XMPP from the GUI in C++, exposing the Lobby API to headless mode, and writing an autostart JS script to manage the server without rendering.
IMHO, volunteer-run hosts significantly improve matchmaking queue times, ultimately making the game much more accessible to everyone.
I haven't put much thought into the minor factions yet, but yeah they're mostly going to be filling niches that other races don't expand on, or to add to races that don't have a feature (like Wizzrobes mages to help out the magic-less Moblins).
Volvagians are definitely going to be a heavy unit group, focusing on fire damage and siege.
Subrosians will mostly focus on mining and upgrades, with a boomerang unit and some weak melee stuff
Huskus will be a strange mix of expensive units with a high damage output and swarm units that are almost useless.