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Onfido: Figuring out who perfect strangers are

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Whether that’s listing a spare room on Airbnb, driving for a few hours a week on Uber, completing a few DIY jobs on TaskRabbit or cleaning someone’s flat via Hassle.

And as a customer of these services you’re required to trust that the individual you let into your house is as trustworthy as the stranger driving your car.

From Onfido: Figuring out who perfect strangers are

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Onfido run this data through an instant checking system, pulling the numbers and writing straight off your passport to check it is genuine and not stolen, and then cross-referencing this data with other databases.

From Onfido: Figuring out who perfect strangers are

Ah. But this isn’t quite the same thing. If you are my Uber driver, there are lots of things I want to know about you, but who you are isn’t one of them. I want to know you a have clean driving licence, that the car is insured, that you don’t play loud music and annoy people with it. All sorts of things. Who you really are?  Whatever. That’s none of my business anyway. One thing I really do want to know is that you are actually the driver with the five star reviews that you say you are, whether I know your real name or not.

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Trust is about much more than money; it’s about human relationships, obligations, experiences, and about anticipating what other people will do.

From In third parties we (mis)trust? » Banking Technology

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