The future of the internet will involve more authentication than it does today but there might be a simple interim solution to provide some level of authentication for the Gov 2.0 presence on online social networks such as facebook and twitter. A standard policy of having a reciprocal link back to a facebook fan page or twitter account on a .Gov/.Mil website which the social network page points to could be a simple interim solution. I call it Reciprocal Link Authentication
Government 2.0 includes a government presence on non-government websites such as online social networks (OSNs) (think facebook fan pages and twitter accounts) so that citizen’s can encounter government guidance and assistance where they ‘live’ in cyberspace. But how can citizens be certain that the government account/representative is authentic? If you run into someone in the street and they say they are working for the government, how do you know for certain? They provide you will a badge or ID right at the beginning of the conversation.
If we encounter government workers as official government representatives in non-government cyberspace, should we also be able to see some sort of identification? Since cyberidentity is more easily assumable in many cases than aliases in real life (especially on social networks), shouldn’t there be a way to verify the authenticity of someone claiming to represent a government? Often times government officials on OSNs such as agency fan pages on facebook or informational twitter accounts will have an official seal or emblem. The problem with this is that it is trivial and relatively low-risk to copy or create an image of a seal or official looking emblem and put it on an anonymous OSN account compared to duplicating a paper credential which someone might show you in person.
An interim solution could be simple. .Gov and .Mil web sites already are monitored and checked for authenticity unlike .com and .org sites. So you don’t need an independent cyber authenticator such as Verisign because any .Gov or .Mil site can serve as that authenticator.
Reciprocal Link Authentication.
Why not have a simple policy that any online social network account or non-.Gov/.Mil online presence have a link to a .Gov/.Mil webpage which then links back to that same OSN account? So if someone wanted to verify a government twitter account, they could simple click on the URL provided and easily find a linkback to that same twitter account on the .Gov/.Mil webpage they landed on. If the account is hijacked then a notice of the problem could be put up until the account identity is secured again. If this is done on all federal OSN accounts, the cybercommunity will become quickly accustomed to the authentication method and if a hijacker removed the authentication link, the visitors will know to dismiss the account. And if they see something which sounds a bit off, then can instantly verify it by following the link back to the OSN account. It would not mean much work since online government representatives at non .Gov/.Mil sites almost always have some .Gov/.Mil landscape under their control.
Reciprocal Link Authentication seems easy, low cost and instantly provides a universal method to authenticate any online government representation without much effort. Sure its not perfect from a cybersecurity point of view, buts it goes a long way to addressing several important concerns about government representation on non-government websites.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.