Nobody Knows You're A Dog 2.0

On the internet it is easy to pretend to be somebody else. Don’t like your name, adopt a new one. Don’t like the way you look, Photoshop your picture. Think you are too young or too old, select a new age. How is anybody going to find out anyway? As the now classic cartoon goes: On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

With the growing popularity of online dating, more and more people are asking: how do I know you are who you say you are? Also with the popularity of online peer-to-peer transactions, like the ones at Craigslist or eBay, it is more important then ever to establish that both parties are reliable. But how does one establish trust in an environment where it is easy to pretend? One way to do it is to share personal information, that can help the other party establish that you are indeed who you say you are. The problem with such an approach is that the information you give may be abused.

The Solution: Identity Verification Services

This problem has spawned a number of identity verification services. These services provide a verification-chain framework to both parties, while protecting sensitive information. These services typically work as follows:

Users sign up for a new account on a dating site and are prompted to click through to the site of an identity verifier.

Users create profiles with details such as their name, age, address, and occupation etc.

Verification services electronically check data in public-record databases to verify assertions and prompt users to answer other challenges based on public records.

If users pass these challenges, they are granted a verified status.

These services provide value by acting as a mediator in an identity transaction. They create trust by certifying that the user is indeed the person he/she claims to be, without disclosing sensitive information about the user to the other party.

Nobody Knows You're A Dog 2.0