Probably Random

Trusting Technology

February 28, 2008 1:36 pm tonkas Privacy

Reading this story about the Mafia getting into online gambling on the BBC reminded me of some research I did back in 2003 into Trust and Privacy in e-commerce.

One of the findings we had was that no matter how good the technology it is just an intermediary, and you need to know who is on the other end. The web can be more secure than post and telephone but if you’re registering for an online gambling site which is run by a criminal gang (it’s not just gambling and it’s not just the Mafia) then no matter how secure the technology is, it is just an intermediary, you are giving your data to an untrusted party. Yes, you it’s not the web or the Internet’s fault.