Mar 12, 2010 
By Jessica Walker
I’ve become very familiar with the acronym RSA over the past couple days. RSA stands for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman, the three MIT researches responsible for describing it in 1978. According to Wikipedia, RSA is an algorithm for public-key cryptography. It is the first algorithm known to be suitable for signing as well as encryption, and was one of the first great advances in public key cryptography. RSA is widely used in electronic commerce protocols, and is believed to be secure given sufficiently long keys and the use of up-to-date implementations.
RSA is also the Security Division of EMC, which is a world leader that designs, builds and manages secure information infrastructures.
So why have I suddenly gone “geek” on you? Well, I stumbled upon an article, “The evolution of online identity and trust,” written by Scott Charney, corporate VP, Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft and wanted to share as much as I could on the topic of online security.
Mr. Charney was recently a keynote speaker at the 2010 RSA Conference that ended on March 5th in San Francisco, CA. The RSA Conference attracts top security professionals from around the world to collaborate on IT security.
In his presentation, Mr. Charney discussed creating a safer, more trusted Internet and he touched upon identity security with a focus on authenticity and anonymity. Mr. Charney and the folks at Microsoft have a vision of working with the public, private, social and economic sectors to create a kind of digital identification card that can be used much like we use a passport or a driver’s license. Mr. Charney envisions the online user registering for this digital identification card in-person at a government office. This card would allow a web user to interact online without having to pass along private information which in turn lets the user remain anonymous when needed. It’s like flashing your driver’s license to a bouncer when entering a night club. The bouncer only needs to verify that your face matches your photo and they will probably scan the card to prove it’s authentic. The bouncer doesn’t store your address, birthday, height or eye color for later use nor do they require you to answer security questions before entering such as what is your mother’s maiden name or what was the name of your first pet? The bouncer knows that the DMV has reviewed your birth certificate and social security card prior to issuing your driver’s license.
This is very exciting news, especially for the online dating industry. The whole premise behind the SaferDates.com site is to try to ensure authenticity while maintaining a degree of anonymity. We are thrilled to hear that the security industry is working diligently to develop digital identification technology.
Now how does all this tie into our site and your member profile in particular? Well, this is very good lead into a service that we have woven into our member profiles and it’s called ReputationShare.
You’ve probably already noticed the ReputationShare box located at the bottom of your Personal Details section. ReputationShare is just another tool that we offer to help you take control of your safety.
When I interviewed Linda Criddle, ReputationShare President, last year she had this to say about her product, “It helps identify and manage rogue users because, like credit bureaus, ReputationShare literally shares people’s online reputations across participating sites. If someone has been abusing other Dating sites or their members, Safer Dates can see that information even as the person is registering and take appropriate steps. Unlike credit bureaus, the ReputationShare service does not receive or store any information about who the user is. Users stay entirely anonymous, but both positive and negative behaviors associated with their email alias are collected. Second, it gives users the ability to make more informed choices about who they choose to interact with.”
I contacted Linda again to see what she thought about Mr. Charney’s article on authenticity and anonymity and this is what she had to say, “Partial anonymity isn’t about a need to know, it is about a user’s choice to share information to achieve greater trust. In an online dating scenario this could be manifest when a potential date wants others to know that they have a track record of decent behavior. In this case the potential date does not need to know anything about WHO you are, they just need to know HOW you behave. ReputationShare is a great example of a system that ensures anonymity of identity, and personal privacy, while providing solid information about a reputation.” To read Linda’s blog click here.
Safer Dates believes abusive behavior in the cyber world can sometimes cross over into the physical world and we feel the ReputationShare tool will empower you to manage your own safety more effectively.
To learn more about ReputationShare please visit http://www.reputationshare.com/.
Until next time, here’s to keeping you Safer in the City!
- Jessica
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