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Using .gov Email Addresses For Age And Information Verification

Over the years we've experimented with ideas that leverage what can be thought of as civic trust infrastructure to address trust related problems on the Internet. 

Previously we created a browser extension and proxy service that allowed users to use access to their IRS Get Transcript ONLINE access as a way to procure trustworthy cryptographic ID certificates. 

Essentially treating access to the Get Transcript ONLINE service as automatic ID verification and using that to issue (via a web proxy) ID certificates. 

We also developed the trust relay protocol, a similar approach that leverages existing sources of trust as a means to address internet trust challenges.

These experiments ultimately lead to the development of the Certisfy app and service.

We have launched another significant experimental approach, leveraging .gov email addresses as a mechanism for bootstrapping a cryptographic trust chain. Think of this as a sort of web of trust implementation.

Ideally, organization level validation would be preferred over email validation but .gov email addresses come with robust vetting by the holder, thus one can think of them as a store of trust. 

We've enabled domain whitelisting on the Certisfy platform that allows holders of .gov email addresses to self-validate (via email or DNS) and procure a trust anchor certificate, thus enabling them to issue trustworthy certificates. 

In effect, if you have a .gov email address you can act as a certificate authority (CA) who can issue trustworthy certificates that can be used for information verification on the internet.

The process is simple:

  1. Create a trust anchor document (simple name/value pair) via the Certisfy app.
  2. Generate a certificate request (CSR) via the Certisfy app.
  3. Submit the request with email (or DNS) selected as your validation type.
  4. Check your .gov email for validation link and validate.
  5. If validation is successful, you will be able to download (via the Certisfy app) a trust anchor certificate that you can then use to issue (via the Certisfy app) trustworthy certificates.

Leveraging our existing civic trust infrastructure has an untapped potential for addressing all sorts of internet trust challenges. Consider these common internet problems:

  • Underage access to inappropriate content.
  • Ticket scalping.
  • Romance scams.
  • E-commerce scams.
  • Fake reviews.
  • Bot swarms. 

These are all problems due to the fundamental lack of an information trust infrastructure that is compatible with the internet. Internet compatibility has to include use-case coverage, technical scalability and a strong privacy profile.

The Certisfy platform implements an approach that has a strong privacy profile while facilitating information verification for virtually any type of internet/online use case, including even off-line use cases. 

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