Web of Trust
by Keith Cowing, December 20, 2007
Web of Trust is an Internet startup, based out of Finland, that asks users to rate web pages on trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy and child safety. Nobody wants to submit credit card numbers or personal info without knowing who they’re dealing with. So Web of Trust, or WOT, hopes to solve that problem.WOT provides a basic plugin for your browser. Every time you visit a web page, you can see other users’ ratings for the site, and of course, submit your own. Sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately you have to download the plugin and signup as a user before you can get started. I didn’t notice what their business model was, but perhaps they plan on selling user data. You’re required to submit demographic information just to create an account.
It’s a good idea, but I think it’ll come up short. It could make an interesting website, but I doubt that it will justify the entire venture-funded organization. Maybe Google will buy it for a few bucks and integrate it into the Google toolbar. But that will only happen if enough people are willing to download the plugin and generate yet another user name and password. We’ll see. I wouldn’t put my money on it.
[Update: A more recent WOT followup has been written here: WOT Revisited]
Tags: WOT, Security, Entrepreneurship,