I spent the second session this morning at a presentation by Mahi De Silva of Verisign; he adjured the audience that “trust is key” as he promoted “the value of trust.”
Some will recognize my discomfort at listening to Verisign in this connection. De Silva probably did not approve the policies that pull domain names from duly-subscribed customers, and he (I am sure) would explain that this happens only rarely, and that Verisign would remedy the harm caused by such lapses.
At the same time, public lapses damage “trust” much more than a rosy corporate pitch can acknowledge. For the corporation, “trust” comes down to verifiability; it’s almost mathematical. That’s good as far as it goes; David Weinberger reminds me that he wants that kind of trust in his hosting service and other agencies, and he’s got a fair point there.
At the same time, trust extends beyond “what you could check up on if you needed to.” Trust involves not simply a referential function, but also a speculative function. If I left the room for a few minutes to phone Margaret, I would have to trust the people among whom I’m sitting—at least one of whom looks pretty seedy—not to make off with my computer. There&8#8217;s no mathematical angle on this dimension of trust; at most, one can articulate a probability function. That still differs from the discernment that impels me to think that I’ll leave the computer unguarded, or take it with me.
That prospective aspect of trust matters a lot more than Mahi De Silva seemed to allow, more (I think) than he can allow, granted Verisign’s allegedly spotty track record. (Consumer Safety Warning: David Weinberger told me about a wonderful experience he had as a Verisign customer, so they’re not only Bad Hats.) So long as Verisign has a dubious reputation that’s grounded in as few as one or two undisputed examples, they can’t presume on our prospective trust. Still less can such a corporation afford to make “trust” the theme of their promotional campaign, lest they immediately invoke a negative response.
Posted by AKMA at October 9, 2002 03:24 PM | TrackBack