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Relativistic conceptions of trustworthiness: implications for the trustworthy status of national identification systems

Relativistic conceptions of trustworthiness: implications for the trustworthy status of national identification systems
Relativistic conceptions of trustworthiness: implications for the trustworthy status of national identification systems
Trustworthiness is typically regarded as a desirable feature of national identification systems (NISs); but the variegated nature of the trustor communities associated with such systems makes it difficult to see how a single system could be equally trustworthy to all actual and potential trustors. This worry is accentuated by common theoretical accounts of trustworthiness. According to such accounts, trustworthiness is relativized to particular individuals and particular areas of activity, such that one can be trustworthy with regard to some individuals in respect of certain matters, but not trustworthy with regard to all trustors in respect of every matter. The present article challenges this relativistic approach to trustworthiness by outlining a new account of trustworthiness, dubbed the expectation-oriented account. This account allows for the possibility of an absolutist (or one-place) approach to trustworthiness. Such an account, we suggest, is the approach that best supports the effort to develop NISs. To be trustworthy, we suggest, is to minimize the error associated with trustor expectations in situations of social dependency (commonly referred to as trust situations), and to be trustworthy in an absolute sense is to assign equal value to all expectation-related errors in all trust situations. In addition to outlining the features of the expectation-oriented account, we describe some of the implications of this account for the design, development, and management of trustworthy NISs.
National Identity System, Digital Identity, Trustworthiness, Trust
2632-3249
Smart, Paul
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Hall, Wendy
11f7f8db-854c-4481-b1ae-721a51d8790c
Boniface, Michael
f30bfd7d-20ed-451b-b405-34e3e22fdfba
Smart, Paul
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Hall, Wendy
11f7f8db-854c-4481-b1ae-721a51d8790c
Boniface, Michael
f30bfd7d-20ed-451b-b405-34e3e22fdfba

Smart, Paul, Hall, Wendy and Boniface, Michael (2022) Relativistic conceptions of trustworthiness: implications for the trustworthy status of national identification systems. Data & Policy, 4, [e21]. (doi:10.1017/dap.2022.13).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Trustworthiness is typically regarded as a desirable feature of national identification systems (NISs); but the variegated nature of the trustor communities associated with such systems makes it difficult to see how a single system could be equally trustworthy to all actual and potential trustors. This worry is accentuated by common theoretical accounts of trustworthiness. According to such accounts, trustworthiness is relativized to particular individuals and particular areas of activity, such that one can be trustworthy with regard to some individuals in respect of certain matters, but not trustworthy with regard to all trustors in respect of every matter. The present article challenges this relativistic approach to trustworthiness by outlining a new account of trustworthiness, dubbed the expectation-oriented account. This account allows for the possibility of an absolutist (or one-place) approach to trustworthiness. Such an account, we suggest, is the approach that best supports the effort to develop NISs. To be trustworthy, we suggest, is to minimize the error associated with trustor expectations in situations of social dependency (commonly referred to as trust situations), and to be trustworthy in an absolute sense is to assign equal value to all expectation-related errors in all trust situations. In addition to outlining the features of the expectation-oriented account, we describe some of the implications of this account for the design, development, and management of trustworthy NISs.

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Accepted/In Press date: 6 June 2022
Published date: 1 July 2022
Venue - Dates: Turing Trustworthy Digital Identity Conference, , London, United Kingdom, 2021-09-13 - 2021-09-13
Keywords: National Identity System, Digital Identity, Trustworthiness, Trust

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 468328
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468328
ISSN: 2632-3249
PURE UUID: b30a3a2c-7ba5-481e-b9bc-2dc0f49b523b
ORCID for Paul Smart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9989-5307
ORCID for Wendy Hall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4327-7811
ORCID for Michael Boniface: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9281-6095

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Date deposited: 10 Aug 2022 18:09
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:56

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Contributors

Author: Paul Smart ORCID iD
Author: Wendy Hall ORCID iD

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