L'autographe et l'étranger : les mystères de l'identité dans le monde virtuel (in French only)

Organization

Option consommateurs

Published

2003

Summary

First, why identify people? Is it always necessary? Is it at least useful, and if so, to whom? Irrepressible curiosity aside, what purpose is served by this information process? Second, what is to be identified? What do we really need to know in order to achieve our purpose? Is detailed identification of a person always necessary? After all, outside the virtual world, a consumer can engage in fairly costly commercial operations without ever identifying himself or herself, by paying cash; in such cases, a merchant will be satisfied upon proof that the cash offered is legal tender. In electronic commerce, is it not also possible to make distinctions between the characteristics to be checked in connection with a transaction? Finally, how do we identify what has to be identified? What methods can we use? What are their strengths and weaknesses? The answer is important here, as technological progress works to condition answers to the “why” and “what” questions, through a dialectic that relates to the interests of those who make the technological choices, and are greedy for information for reasons of their own. Among other things, the answers to these questions relate to philosophy, sociology, law, economics and technology. We should state at once that unfortunately, we do not have the answers. Our purpose here is to start looking for them, not to expound on them. Our exploration will focus mainly on the legal and technological dimensions of the issue, although from time to time we shall have to place it in the very concrete context of current business practices in the virtual world. We shall also have to include a reference to philosophy, since our conclusion will be that the root of the current difficulties surrounding the concept of identity has to do with that branch of knowledge.

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French only

OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database