Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?



  • I've had this idea in my head for a while, about physical locations whose main job would be to provide "trust" to third parties. For example, they could:

    • Check the legal identity of a person, and maybe some biometric information about them
    • Take photos of stuff, and certify that they haven't been manipulated
    • Provide a secure computing environment, with only some predefined software installed and only allowed to connect to some IPs (and other physical restrictictions like no smartphones allowed)

    These places would then interact with random people on behalf of the companies that hired them. So what would they be used for?

    • Companies with high value accounts, like Google, Steam, corporate Facebook pages, etc. that wanted to identify people in order to resolve identity disputes and claims of hacked accounts
    • Companies that are legally required to verify a person's legal identity before allowing them to use their services (bitcoin exchanges, banks, mobile providers)
    • Companies like eBay, that need to verify that some physical item really is broken (yes, people sometimes photoshop cracks on stuff to get a refund and keep the original product), or you could take a photo of something right before you send it to verify that it's not broken
    • Letting people take online exams without cheating
    • Playing online games without anyone being able to cheat. OK, I wouldn't want to go to the cyber cafe just to play Overwatch for a while either, but maybe for tournaments and stuff.

    Obviously, the specific services and details need to be worked out, but I think the general idea could work.

    It could also come in different "levels" of trust, like maybe for serious stuff you could have cameras everywhere, metal detectors and patdowns to make sure you don't smuggle anything, fake bribe attempts to make sure the employees are loyal, but most of the time you wouldn't need that.

    Currently, all those companies use crappy, unreliable methods to achieve the same goals. For example:

    • Facebook can ask you to send a scan of your ID card to verify your identity
    • Google asks you questions like "enter the last password you remember" or "When did you create this Google Account" to make sure you're the owner of the account. Yahoo actually asks about the content of your latest emails.
    • Bitcoin exchanges ask for a scan of your ID, and some utility bill that has your name and address on it, to verify your address (who gets paper bills anymore?).
    • We had a thread about how Amazon does online interviews: please clean your desk

    Well that's it really. I never know how to finish long posts. Just wanted to throw the idea out there.



  • @anonymous234 Sounds like an interesting idea that's very hard to market. (And, BTW, it already exists for test-taking, although I think most of those are attached to universities.)

    What you need to do is:

    • Find if any test taking centers are commercial
    • Buy one that's breaking even or making money
    • Start shilling your ass off to Bitcoin banks, Twitter, Facebook, etc

    The problem is you can't take it national or worldwide without a ton of money and all of the businesses you mention happen to be.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    Makes sense. My local police department has a couple of spots reserved right out in front for people exchanging stuff for Craigslist, etc. They have a security camera constantly recording the area and allow people to wait in the lobby in the case of foul weather.

    Your idea is kind of like a digital notary public sort of service.


  • 🚽 Regular

    I believe D.U.N.S. does this kind of service for corporations, rather than individuals.



  • Some of this also overlaps with the services of a public notary / notarius publicus.

    (E.g., to get access to some computing infrastructure abroad, I had to get a form signed by a public notary, who would essentially verify that it was indeed me who got a certain security token.)


  • BINNED

    @anonymous234 said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    • Check the legal identity of a person, and maybe some biometric information about them

    Like through an official ID of some sort ... we even could implement it as a smart card so it be used for electronic authentication. Oh wait I already have that in my wallet.


  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    @luhmann said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @anonymous234 said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    • Check the legal identity of a person, and maybe some biometric information about them

    Like through an official ID of some sort ... we even could implement it as a smart card so it be used for electronic authentication. Oh wait I already have that in my wallet.

    Look, this is America, we can't be having people asking us for our papers, please! That's reserved for non-white immigrants & Germans. 🚎



  • @dreikin said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @luhmann said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @anonymous234 said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    • Check the legal identity of a person, and maybe some biometric information about them

    Like through an official ID of some sort ... we even could implement it as a smart card so it be used for electronic authentication. Oh wait I already have that in my wallet.

    Look, this is America, we can't be having people asking us for our papers, please! That's reserved for non-white immigrants & Germans. 🚎

    Or in Arizona, all non-whites including citizens.


  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    @dcon said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @dreikin said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @luhmann said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    @anonymous234 said in Brain dump of the day: do we need "trustoriums"?:

    • Check the legal identity of a person, and maybe some biometric information about them

    Like through an official ID of some sort ... we even could implement it as a smart card so it be used for electronic authentication. Oh wait I already have that in my wallet.

    Look, this is America, we can't be having people asking us for our papers, please! That's reserved for non-white immigrants & Germans. 🚎

    Or in Arizona, all non-whites including citizens.

    0_1504726049403_Joe_Arpaio_(cropped).jpg Sheee-it, who let them become citizens⁉




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