Identity and Trust
June 05, 2003
Eric has some things to say about identity and trust in You are number 6. (0000ZU)
Eric finds reason to disagree with the assertion "that the name is the identifier": (0000ZV)
By which I mean to say, a name is only an introduction, identity - and how 'informed entities' online identify other informed entities is through everything that comes behind the name. So we have a name and a key - a small, almost insignificant bit of data that informs the name - providing just enough identity for a computer to authenticate or authorise us. Or we have a more significant bit of information, a physical key and a PIN to identify us in more important realms. (0000ZW)
And when I see someone's writing or actions online, that provides yet more information for me - an aggregating and informed entity - to actually identify them by much more than their name. (0000ZX)
That's what identity is, not just the name. (0000ZY)
In a comment someone says: (0000ZZ)
I just wanted to say that when one encounters another's writings on line, it only represents that part of the online persona which the writer has chosen to share. Of course, that SHOULD raise a question of "trust"... (000100)
To which I want to say this: (000101)
Why do people get so uptight about on line identities and trust? Sure when you encounter somone's writings on line, it is only a part of a whole. This is also true in other settings. When you encounter someone at work you are encountering their work persona. When you read something in an academic journal you are reading someone's academic persona. Trust develops in these settings without the addition of complicated automated authentication systems despite the fact that there is just as much chance the co-worker or the academic have unknown habits like the bloggger who unbeknownst to his adoring readers goes home at night and eats babies. (000102)
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