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Quantification of trust

MM: That’s the really conceptual big breakthrough. That is the actual quantification of trust in real markets, by category.

ES: Wow. Let me see.

Basically, who was going to provide that reputation as a service? If I think about how our system’s architected, we’re already integrated, using that same kind of parallel between the payment processors.

We’re integrated with most of the major banks in the world, to go out… If somebody gives us a credit card number, we go out and figure out electronically—within a millisecond—if that card that’s being presented really belongs to that person. That’s Number 1—is there fraud?

I see parallels all over the place. Even in a reputation as a service system, if I want to go out and check your reputation, I’ve got to make sure that it’s not somebody trying to pretend that they’re you. How do I prevent fraud in that credential?

Then the limit of that reputation. “Yes, he’s good, but don’t trust him for more than a month or for more than a $100 purchase,” or whatever it is.

MM: So that almost gets into a social media or a social networking version of the FICO store.

ES: Yes. I think we’re inventing a really cool business, here. I don’t know if anyone’s doing it. I’ll have to go read that book. I’m actually not going to go to Amazon, now—I’m going to go to Borders and try to buy it.

MM: There’s actually an e-mail company. I can’t remember the name of it. But it’s basically an add-on or plug-in to the Microsoft Exchange Server or group-wise, and your Outlook client. It creates an internal Whuffie system. So if I get a bogus e-mail from you, I’ll take away 10 points from you. But if I get a really crisp, clear e-mail from you, I’ll give you some Whuffie.

They’re creating an at-a-boy acknowledgement or a social credit system for e-mails that improve productivity of the intended recipient.

ES: That’s similar to del.icio.us, for instance. Right? If you look a keyword into del.icio.us, to say, “Okay. I’m interested in some brand new thing on laptop computers.” Or Lenovo’s X61. You would be able to go in and see what the highest-frequency discussions are around that kind of thing.

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