You don't have to give up privacy to have accountability. Privacy is essential. The need for privacy explains why people post public comments anonymously. Putting your name on a public website can be an open invitation to snoops, fraudsters and troublemakers. And yet, anonymity brings with it its own set of problems, mostly having to do with accountability. What if a message posted on a blog or a chat window were accompanied by an icon that signifies, "this person's identity has been verified to a very specific degree of reliability. You don't get to know their name, age, gender or anything else about them unless they specifically want you to know any or all of those things about them. But if a court says they did something wrong, their identity is available for disclosure to the authorities. Here it is, anonymity with accountability: That's my RelOID icon. The number inside the foot tells you that my identity was established with that specific level of reliability on a scale of Seventy-Two. Why 72? Well, if you roll your mouse over the icon (on the far left if you're using Firefox) you'll see how I rate on the eight different measures of identity reliability, each being on a scale of zero to nine. You don't know who I am, but if I were to write something libelous about you, your lawyer would be able to do something about it. Or, if you wanted to know more about me you could simply ask. Just sign your request with your own credential, and something called MOI (My Own Information) knows how much I want to disclose, to whom. My little robotic MOI assistant knows how to respond to ordinary requests, and only bothers me with the unusual ones. Then again, let's say I posted something on your blog that violates your rules. To get posting privileges, I had to give you permission in advance to look up my name if I stepped over the line. You, on the other hand, digitally signed my personal nondisclosure agreement saying you wouldn't let others know my name. We can settle this in private. Click here to learn what the scores mean. CONTINUE>>