* A membership/subscription service like Ethoca could be a way towards creating an effective reputation system
Last issue, in talking about Ethoca, I mentioned that their fraud-fighting scheme might be the basis for constructing the type of system we’ve been talking about for years without ever getting close to realizing a working system. If you read the last issue, you can probably guess that I’m talking about a reputation system.
Reputation systems have been featured in this newsletter for a few years (see, for example, “Why reputation works as an identity management element”). But, until now, there’s been no real, easily used, safe and secure model for a reputation system. The Ethoca platform, though, suggests how it could be done.
It’s not that there aren’t any good examples of reputation systems already to some extent, eBay, Yelp and Trip Advisor, for example, all contain excellent systems creating reputation profiles for entities. The problem is that not only aren’t these interchangeable, they aren’t capable of being important into some third party reputation manager either.
Should we expect that eBay, Yelp, Trip Advisor and other reputation-based Web sites will all subscribe to a data-sharing scheme to enable a third-party Ethoca-like service? That’s really “pie in the sky”.
But the idea of a membership/subscription service like Ethoca could be a way to bypass the proprietary sites and let forward-thinking individuals and organizations help create the reputation database. Membership would cost, of course, but by monetizing each contribution as a credit towards use of the data, members would have incentive to take the time necessary to enter the details of a transaction or relationship.
There would need to be safeguards not only to protect the data from unauthorized distribution, but also to protect the subjects of that data from vindictive entries. It won’t be easy, but it should be possible.
In helping a friend move from the semi-protected world of eBay to her own storefront on the Web one thing I did worry about was fraud and reputation among her potential customers without the “warm fuzzy” feeling that eBay’s feedback system can give you. A reputation system similar to what I’m describing here would go a long way towards assuaging my worries. Of course, if you can figure a way to get all of the various reputation systems to cooperate, then I’ll back you to the hilt. But not only is that “pie in the sky,” it’s also “jam tomorrow.”
‘I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!’ the Queen said. ‘Twopence a week, and jam every other day.’
Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said, ‘I don’t want you to hire ME – and I don’t care for jam.’
‘It’s very good jam,’ said the Queen.
‘Well, I don’t want any TO-DAY, at any rate.’
‘You couldn’t have it if you DID want it,’ the Queen said. ‘The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.’
‘It MUST come sometimes to “jam to-day,”‘ Alice objected.
‘No, it can’t,’ said the Queen. ‘It’s jam every OTHER day: to-day isn’t any OTHER day, you know.’
‘I don’t understand you,’ said Alice. ‘It’s dreadfully confusing!’
I do hope that reputation management isn’t “dreadfully confusing” to you!
