The Internet Safety Technical Task Force led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University recently released a 278 page final report examining the extent of the threats children face on social networks. The report was the culmination of a year of meetings between dozens of academics, experts in childhood safety and executives of 30 companies, including Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and Facebook. BeenVerified presented our technology to the task force during an open meeting that took place on September 23 and 24 of last year.
BeenVerified was started several years ago after my partner and I were “mislead” about the credentials of freelances we hired online. We knew that in order to fully realize the potential of the social web, there must be a way to “verify” objective information (identity, age, degree, experience), people present about themselves online. What does this have to do with keeping children safe online? Everything!
As the report accurately conveys and was stressed in a recent article in the New York Times, the real problem children face online is increased exposure to “cyber-bullying.” We all know bullying is a fact of life. However, it does not take a child psychologist to understand that bullying increases when children can hide their true identities behind the computer. Simply put, there is always one person in school willing to bully someone in person. However, there are many students who would never do that face- to- face, but would do it anonymously online. This exasperates the problem of bullying.
Cyber-bullying is a symptom of the real culprit- online identity. Our quest to solve the problem of verifying online freelancers lead us to a greater understanding of the real issue at hand. If we want to eliminate symptoms, we must attack the disease. At the same time, we can help the web become a better place in all areas. Tackling the issue of online identity will tackle problems like:
- Is that person giving medical advice on his blog really a doctor?
- Is that person I am meeting off Craigslist to buy a table actually a rapist?
- Is that freelance designer really a pro at Photoshop?
- Is that 12 year old chatting with my 12 year old actually a 12 year old?
Here is a blueprint on how to being tackling the main culprit – Identity
1. Opt-In
We must make identity verification optional. The Internet should remain open and free. Otherwise, underground communities will appear immediately. Think about happened when the government banned online gambling. People set up shop in Costa Rica. The same will happen here, unless all verification is “opt-in.”
2. User Centric/Selective Disclosure
It is imperative that the verification process benefits the individual. Getting verified should not be a chore, but instead something that adds value to the user. It should be a process about “me.” Furthermore, if a doctor is blogging about her area of expertise, lets say children’s preventive health, then the system should work where as audiences can be shown the credentials associated with what is important: degree verification and work experience. However, it is not necessary to convey age, or name, or even the hospital where the doctor works. This is what we mean by selective disclosure.
3. Portability
Once a person is verified, they should be able to show off their verification anywhere they go online. For example, on a dating site, they should be able to show they are not a criminal, they are actually 38, and perhaps verify the career they claim. However, again, no need to show that you do in fact have a certificate in SCUBA diving, unless you want to. That same user should be able to show a different set of verifications on LinkedIn, Facebook, E-Bay or anywhere else they choose.
4. Best of Breed Data Sources
The identity verification platform should not be “married” to one data source. Technology and public information availability changes all the time and the system should easily adapt to these changes. The source and date of verification should be noted, but any source should have the chance to be included.
We see the space shaping up very similar to the credit card industry, with a hint of pay pal and a splash of Verisign. There should be a handful of trusted companies competing to offer the best services and become recognizable “trust signals,” but for humans. The branded trust signal should go wherever the user wants to take it and when the audience clicks on the trust mark- a small window opens up on the page showing the verified information, the data source and the date of verification.
In order for this to happen, we need:
- Access to Existing Social Networks
Sites like Match.com and LinkedIn need to open up their communities to allow third-party human trust signals to work on the site. Right now, these sites do not allow for third-party trust human trust signals.
2. Government needs to make public information accessible
Right now, the state of New York charges $55 for a criminal report. This is extremely cost prohibitive. Also, we are not talking about privacy issues here. Remember, it is up to the individual to decide what information about themselves they would like verified, (Opt-In), who to share what information (selective disclosure) and where to share it (portability).
3. Education and Collaboration
There needs to be a massive effort to educate individuals and audiences on the idea of online identity verification. We need the government to help with PSA’s, the media to help by raising and exploring the issue, and NGO’s to get involved as well.
In conclusion, you can not pull the carriage before the horse. In order to tackle the symptoms of online identity, we must start to make headway against the culprit.