This book is characterized by the authors as the only one providing a comprehensive analysis of trust in modern technology and business. While in reality there are several recent books on various aspects of trust, this volume is unique in that it provides a philosophical view of trust (rather than a technical/technological view) and concepts associated with trusted environments. Although the three authors are academics in information technology and computer science departments in Australia, the book is not technical. Some technological context is included in every chapter, but the emphasis is on explaining why consumers trust electronic commerce systems, and whether this type of trust can be formalized, modeled, and predicted. A technical reader familiar with the typical set of trust-related topics—trusted computing, trust models, and so on—will be surprised to find different issues discussed in the book. Although similar terminology is used, it applies to different concepts. Technical writings on trusted computing and trust models are not referenced by the authors, and economic models of trust in various markets are not presented in depth. Instead, the authors introduce a sociological and psychological picture of some aspects of trust in electronic commerce.

The book consists of 14 logically connected chapters, each concluded by a summary. The authors are preoccupied that the readers may confuse trust and security, and these concepts are introduced early in the first chapter and discussed in detail. As mentioned before, the technical terminology of trust/trusted environments is used to denote concepts of a different nature. Contrary to expectations, a trusted system is not defined in the technical sense (a trusted system is one that breaks your security policy because you have to trust it). Instead, trust is presented as the ability of a buyer to feel confident that a product or service being acquired has expected quality and value. The authors present trust in part as a notion that helps the agents in a marketplace overcome the problem of asymmetric information, although economic models are not used to describe this situation. The psychological rather than the technical definition of trust sets the stage for the rest of the book: trust is understood predominantly in terms of sociology, psychology, and law. A trust model (described in chapter 2) is based on a trust relationship, in a predominantly psychological sense, and not on strict protocols for exchanging trust artifacts among authorized entities. Trust ontology (chapter 4) is psychologically informed and draws from relationships between trusted and trusting agents. The fuzzy nature of trust (chapter 5) refers to the fact that customers can only vaguely describe concepts associated with trust, and not a range of acceptable values within a trusted environment. The trustworthiness of a system or environment (chapter 6) is measured in terms of commitment and quality of service, and is not a set of metrics proving that the system has not been tampered with and is therefore trustworthy. Trustworthiness itself (chapter 7) is the same as a product/service rating, and not some objective measure of a system’s integrity.

Although the psychology of trust and trusted relationships has a legitimate and very important place in research in many areas, including electronic commerce, I found the descriptive, imprecise models included in this book hard to use productively when applying them in a technology context. The book was written over several years, and the technology examples included in it are sometimes puzzling. For example, trusted computing, a very extensive field with numerous applications and hundreds of research and business papers, is represented by Microsoft’s now-defunct Palladium, which is but a small episode in the history of trusted computing.

Although the book is not designed to serve as a technical analysis tool, a source of technical knowledge, or for technology assessment, it is valuable for those interested in electronic commerce as a comprehensive collection of ideas and consumer technologies pertinent to forming trusted relationships in online commerce. A reader is certain to acquire fresh knowledge on third-party recommended agents (chapter 8) and reputation/rating systems (chapter 11). Reputation ontology (chapter 9) is likely to bring to your attention ideas and concepts that you would have otherwise overlooked. You will find the reasoning behind predicting trust in a system (chapter 12) interesting, and the methodology for calculating trust (chapter 12) useful. The book will be especially useful to a business reader, as it highlights essential aspects of electronic commerce in terms that are easy to understand and link with real-life projects.

The authors conclude that trust- and reputation-building technologies will transform the currently risky electronic commerce environment, making it more trustworthy, the vision that all security technologists share. The book will be a useful addition to the library of all those that work in electronic commerce, whether they are technologists or business professionals. Its comprehensiveness and easy-to-follow narrative will be helpful in many projects.