Trustmarks

As the world migrated from analog to digital, we lost some of the signals we used to rely on as proxies for trustworthiness. For multiple decades now, educators and others have considered how to teach youth, if not all of us, what to look for in a reliable source of information. Technology rapidly shifts the ground from underneath us, so that new sources gain prominence on each new social media platform, often at the expense of attention to time-tested sources. This isn't always a bad thing, but still, some groups are considering how we might bring trustmarks like the USDA's Organic label into the digital realm. The theory is that a certifying board could approve or reject certain actors, allowing citizens to know at a single glance whether if they can trust a product or service with the mark.