Enabling trust online

Abstract

Trust is one of the mainstays of commerce. However, as more and more individuals and businesses participate in electronic commerce, it is becoming apparent that much of what supports trust in the traditional commerce setting is unavailable online. This paper explores the nature of trust online, identifying the ten principles underpinning the concept of trust and the online mechanisms that promote it. Label Bureaus that capture authoritative third party ratings and Reputation Systems that capture user feedback and opinions (second party ratings) are examined with respect to these ten principles and it is shown that neither type of rating system satisfies all ten of them. Finally, a new hybrid form of trust infrastructure is proposed that integrates first party information, second party opinions, and third party ratings and, in so doing, addresses all ten of the principles of trust.