In the digital age, verification of identity is an ongoing battle. Unlike previous eras, the issue of trust – be that of people or documents – is something that has to be checked with every single new contribution or application. Sophisticated hackers and algorithms are a constant threat, meaning that veracity of source material must be proved every time.
The rise of social media also means that memories are short, both for people and devices. For these reasons, verification of online identity is a task which needs updating on a minute by minute basis.
Too Much Information
There is only so much information that a human brain can hold. This is the complete opposite of potential digital storage, which in theory is almost limitless. On a day to day basis, therefore, users of online resources need a series of filters in order to have any hope of dealing sensibly with all the facts and opinions out there.
This situation, of course, has led to the vexed issue of “fake” or “false” news. Lack of the right kind of filters, or verifiers, can lead the unsuspecting internet user down some dangerously dark alleys. Because all internet and media output in many ways looks and feels the same, it’s human nature to trust each one equally.
Real vs. Fake
Because online identity is so important, the fact that so much fakeness exists on the internet leads to a reaction against it. If anything, users and businesses viewing a person’s application for the first time online are likely to be more suspicious than trusting of its authenticity. As bots can create and use thousands of fake IDs every day, security conscious users are perhaps understandably skeptical of every individual applicant for services.
This distrust of online identity is something which younger generations almost take for granted. As Facebook approaches its second decade of existence, many under 25 year olds have grown up with it, plus other social media platforms. This perhaps comes with an inbuilt distrust of things and people presented for the first time; the pendulum has swung the other way.
Middle Ground
Rather than veering between paranoia and blind faith, businesses and individuals who rely on identity verification to function properly need a way of restoring some sort of normality. Provable software and processes which themselves have shown time and again that they work against online fraud can give people the reassurance they need in this uncertain world.
The fact is that businesses which offer protection from online ID fraud can prove their record, for all to see. This is, of course, an ongoing process, and one which needs to improve every minute to keep its reputation. One of the good things about big data, after all, is that it never goes away.
When suppliers and consumers of products and services looking for trustable users want somewhere to go, they will rightly search for providers with the best track record. In a world of understandable paranoia, success in online verification is still a record which should be provable beyond doubt.