Persona-comments-David Nicol-Information Trust Institute at Univ. of Illinois

Source: Email received April 22, 1011

A trusted third party and analogy to Underwriters Lab and stock market

I'm really fascinated by what I'm understanding.

The idea of the ITA is fascinating. Using descriptive terminology from computer security, it would be a "trusted 3rd party", but here for information rather than cryptographic keys. It's an idea worth trying.

I think [the "aha" moment was] when you make the comparison with Underwriters Lab, the stock market, etc. Then I "got it". Or got something, anyway . . . Whether it can succeed or not, I don't know. But it relies on a model that has worked in other contexts, for sharing of other things.

I'm thinking we should have you up sometime in the fall to give a talk. This has links to economics, privacy, information trust, complex systems.

David M. Nicol, Director
Information Trust Institute
Coordinated Science Laboratory
University of Illinois
Urbana, Ill. dmnicol@iti.illinois.edu