Auteur(s) : Elie Sloïm
Publié le : 18-12-2001
Résumé : Some fundamental changes have to occur in our global approach to the Internet if we want to bring confidence. Part 2
Les dernières nouvelles de la société, notre analyse de certains événements ou articles sur la qualité, la conformité ou l'accessibilité :
1. I had a dream ... : the trusted zones
2. A few basic rules
3. What of quality marks ?
4. A credible answer and some issues to be solved
In this second article, we shall choose to venture into Utopia and dream about the Perfect Internet, a "trusted zone" which could help us to forget about all those various drawback mentionned in the first part.
To do so, we shall lay down the foundations of a reflection that could capitalize and facilitate the work currently carried out by the various certification organizations.
This "trusted zone" would be as follow :
- it would be a group of sites forming a limited under-group in this limitless space of the Internet. It is not compulsory that only business-orientated sites be comprehended in this space, since information sites as well as on-line services could very well be managed by the common rules we shall define later on.
- All the sites of this space are entirely secured. I find it shocking that the notion of safe space is strictly limited to on-line buying. Would it be possible to imagine a site entirely in https (or any other technical solution) and right from the welcome page, as well as for the information pages ? Now our space has become a safe place, not only for financial exchanges, but also for any information exchange, whatever its nature.
- The confidence area is made for a finite number of sites and equipped whith a neutral search engine.
- The technical specifications (multimedia presentation model, data basis, payment ways, authorized scripts and languages) would yield to common rules insuring the maximum accessibility to all the users, whether they be crippled or able-bodied, equipped or ill-equipped, beginners or veterans.
- Thus, the made up space would be composed of sites which strictly respect some ethical and functioning rules, at the risk of being excluded should these rules be broken. Among these few basic rules, here are 10 essential obligations that the applicants should commit themselves to honour.
1- Every single personal data collected by means of a site from that area is strictly saved by the collecting organization, and without any restrictive conditions. No collected data can be used or traded for marketing purposes, unless the user clearly ask for the contrary.
2- The saving of personal data must be for a limited amount of time, within precise and outlined conditions of safe keeping.
3- Any implementing of personalization tools (cookies or other) must be laid before users, not by means of a navigator that detect the tool, but by standardized means implemented in the whole safe space, and to ask for their acceptation once and for all.
4- All the information necessary to goods or services order are readily available from all the pages of the zone (caddie, state of the order, general sale conditions, global procedure from the order to the delivery.)
5- Every single good or service bought in the safe space is subject to the "satisfied or refunded" guarantee, which conditions are clearly and precisely defined. Every complaint or non-conformity is handled within the average allotted time that was previously defined.
6- The attributes of every single information displayed (source, author, writing date, copyright, legal framework) are indicated in a standardized manner in a pre-defined place on all the pages.
7- The legal identity of the entity in charge of each site part of the area is clearly defined and described. One can be in contact with an operator, whatever the moment of the order, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every single severance of service or activity of the parent company is immediately passed on to the severance of the Internet service (so as to fight against the many sites remaining open after the closure of their parent company -have you ever tried to purchase a loaf of bread at a closed bakery ?)
8- All the information referring to safety are readily available no matter the page of the area, and are guaranteed on all its sites.
9- The safe space and all its sites-members formalize and describe a policy consisting of an unceasing improvement of the proposed services quality.
10- All the sites of the area are submitted to the authority of a strictly independent third party which exclusive mission consist of checking that the common rules are enforced according to what was defined by the group-members. Any site proven to disrespect the defined rules would immediately be excluded, its return being submitted to its conformity procedure.
Eventually, the entrance and existing of the safe space are clearly visible to the users. For this purpose, no navigator window can be open without the consent or previous warning of the users.
When I say that the quality marks (labels, certification marks) as they are considered today cannot, all by themselves bring confidence in the Internet, it is only because all the efforts made by ten sites can be ruined by one and just one if its attitude is incorrect. When a single site forgets to deliver its client, give him out of date or false information about its users, the whole of the Internet suffers from it.
Experts in quality have known for a long time that a dissatisfied user passes on his discontent to a lot of his acquaintances.
Today's trend leads to the certifying of sites, and it is the Internet itself that should be certified. However, for many reasons you know all about, it would not only be useless, but also noxious to the freedom of speech and information availability to do so. Therefore, I am appealing to the managers of trustworthy sites, whether business-orientated, information-orientated, public or private : since we cannot certify the Internet, we must create real trusted zones on the Internet no longer dedicated to one site only, but to a community of sites ready to abide by certain rules. The cost of this respect is likely to be high but, this time, the cost of enforcement and maintenance would be shared by many participants and no longer by only one.
Some people may say that this notion of trusted areas looks exactly alike an improved shopping center which respects some quality rules in addition to what has been existing.
They may be right, considering that the creation of such shopping centers would probably not be a breakthrough.
All things considered, at this point of our essay, it is nevertheless necessary to go further on. Since Utopia has sometimes the power to make things better, let's worship it ...
Why don't we consider the creation of an extension that would be tailor-made for trusted areas ? How about creating an extension .trust (or other) which management would be handed over by the authorities in charge of the management of extension to one or several official organizations of certifying -as for those organizations, they would be entrusted with enforcing the above-mentioned rules on the whole sites possessing this extension.
Of course we are perfectly aware of the limits of this proposal. As a matter of fact, a lot of problems are still to be solved. To complete this essay, we should at least answer the following questions :
You readers may raise several other objections. However, the fact that I am openly reflecting upon this idea is likely to make readers react and suggest alternatives, especially those who work on certifying systems. If you think that this project is interesting, the question is at issue. We should maybe follow this lead.
traduction : Marie-Anne CazenaveThis article is composed of two parts.
