Eric Leach's Weblog
Reputation: My opninion of the general opinion...
I pray thee -- and I'll pay thee bounteously --
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent.
Viola, Act 1 Scene 2, Twelfth Night
I've been thinking about reputation a lot recently, particularly after reading something in Dave Kearns'
I love bold, passionate statements such as these as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong. And I think reputation is a useful way to qualitatively measure the efficacy of a given individual's identity in a particular context, especially on blogs and in other (relatively) non-sensitive online environments like social networking. But to suggest reputation will replace trust just didn't make sense to me.
I think it says something that reputation and mistaken identities are the basis of our great comedies. And I suppose that is what led me to Viola, who pays well to have her reputation established as Cesario - and hoo boy what folly ensues. I could have just as easily settled on Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot, or Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, but Shakespeare is always a useful fallback device when trying to make a point (lernt that in skool).
Reputation is spontaneously bestowed and functions well in dynamic, interactive environments. I get that. Communities bestow reputation - and in some situations that is radically more valuable than having some measurement of an idividual's identity dictated. I get that too. But reputation is often unreliable, as we've seen, and I think there are certain situations when trust - based on strongly identifying systems - are the only way to have a safe interaction, especially when the outcome of that interaction potentially puts people at risk or in danger.
Is reputation always enough, even in dynamic and loosely defined situations? What about when a group of young men show up at a disaster site wearing fatigues bearing the insignia of a National Guard unit? Based on the reputation associated with the National Guard, those young men might be granted access to communications systems, be granted the privilege of distributing food and water, and be provided with the means to preserve order and the rule of law.
I would love to believe that reputation is enough to establish those rights and provileges for those young men, but I cannot. Blame it on my liberal arts education. Call it cynicism. Call it what you will, but I need more. (I suspect FEMA does, too.)
Perhaps the statement that reputation will replace trust ought to be conditionally applied here, perhaps limited to situations where favors and obligations, trust by association, and similar forms of social currencies are acceptable.
I'd prefer to see a discussion where reputation and trust are considered complementary parts of a system that can reliably ascertain and interpret identity.
Posted at 11:56AM Apr 23, 2006 by carlericleach in Identity | Comments[0]