[Sigia-l] Maybe I'm just loopy this week

[Listera]

"Sean Lawrence" wrote:

> But I got myself wondering why no one has developed a Reputation/Identity
> Management System.

So you didn't get the memo that the dotcom era was over? :-)

ID management and reputation systems are not necessarily the same thing.
Since Passport and Alliance have been working on the ID side of this, let's
leave that aside. There may be legal issues in tying the two together.

What's a 'reputation'? When you think through this it becomes obvious that,
like a lot of stuff in life, it's contextual. You can have a decent
'reputation' on eBay for shipping stuff on time, but may be a reactionary
troll on community boards. How do you come up with a definitive list of
attributes that make up a reputation that is comprehensive enough to be used
universally and short enough to be effective?

With personal and commercial (credit) rating oligopolies, there are and have
been horrendous abuses. Do you worry about the legal ramifications of
'reputation' ratings issued by a similar system?

While technical aspects of this is pretty complex but mundane, the legal and
social aspects are fraught with dangers that are hard to undo.

There are, of course, countless examples of site based-rating systems that
serve specific functions. But, at least in the U.S., we are uniquely blessed
by not having to carry and produce a national ID card, on demand.

Ziya
Nullius in Verba