WoT Use Case

[ChristopherA]

We currently don't have a Web Of Trust use case for verified claims. Here is what I've written up so far, and a line for each of the twelve steps of Joe's use case engagement model.

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Alice is a 1st-generation citizen of a western country (United States, Britain, Germany), born of two immigrants from a country of significant repression (Iran, Cuba, North Korea) who are now permanent residents. Her parents were settled in a small city near the agricultural heart of the county (Mid-West United States, Midlands of Britain, Saxony of Germany) where they have become successful small business owners.

As a child she was told stories of the abuses of her parents in their country of origin, where they are now not able to return. She knows some cousins and other family members in these other countries who have told similar stories, but mostly through the internet or traveling to different countries of the diaspora of their extended family.

Both Alice and her parents have experienced some unkind words and minor discrimination in their newly adopted country, but largely the benefits of being in a modern western country overwhelm any disadvantages. The parents have found others to practice their religion with, which Alice respects but in general is more secular.

Alice has recently graduated with a computer science degree, and has pleased her parents by settling nearby, working for a small regional bank. Quite conservative, they have a “no social media” policy at work — a rule which is regularly broken, but there have been some others who have experienced object lessons, especially if they stand out as non-conformists.

However, the winds of populism are blowing. Alice has personally heard more slurs lately, seen more covered the media, and many local political parties of rising significance have publicly targeted her ethnicity, her parents religion, etc. Added to the stories of repression in her parent’s birth country, even greater stories of conflict reported by distant family members, Alice has some legitimate fear.

Alice, like most millennials, doesn’t wish to leave her head in the sand—she wishes to take a more active role in making a better world. However, she knows if she stands out from the crowd that any activism she may get involved in may not only affect her, they may affect her parents or even her extended family abroad. Increasingly Alice has been more careful — self-censoring social media, using end-to-end encryption software to talk to her family abroad, etc.

Bob, a mainstream citizen of his western country, is also worried about the rising tide of populism in his own country, and extremism in other countries. Raised by a middle-class family he has travelled widely as a young adult, and has been supported by his parents to join as an employee of a non-profit organizations. Bob is not a programmer, but an active user of social media and other internet technology, and has some ideas about how his non-profit could use mobile applications to serve their advocacy. He shares his ideas out in the world in a public forum.

Alice reads this request, and has the skills to help make such a mobile applications, but now has a dilemma. She has heard of other professional women who have been public about work and have been heavily criticized or even doxxed (gamer-gate, etc.), and doesn’t want to risk her job, or risk her family by her activities. She also doesn’t have a reputation in the developer community as a mobile programmer. She also has limited time to be able to help, thus has to be focused and careful about what she can offer.

Our use case will show how Alice meets Bob anonymously to offer help with his project. How Alice is able to demonstrate and share a positive reputation for her quality work. How Carol is able to use Alice’s software to protect herself from harm in a third-world country. How Ted is able to review Bob’s ideas and Alice’s work, and offer some funding to help both. How Alice is able to increase her reputation in her anonymously developed software to the point where she is offered a job at Ted’s company that pays more than her job at a conservative bank. How she is able to selectively revoke parts of her anonymity to establish her personal reputation her peers and selective colleagues, without at any time putting Carol and her other advocacy clients at risk.

Notes:

Ref: Spocko’s Brain and the need to be free to engage politically without putting his career as a PR professional at risk.

MBA student. Female cell phone co entrepreneur. Teaching Afghani women to use technology to engage the world to build business and form social bonds. Was open and above board in what she was doing. Had to leave Afghanistan after direct conversations from Afghan “leadership” warning her she can’t continue to do what she was doing.

Iranian human rights advocacy. Roving bands of self-appointed religious zealots who have quasi-authority to enforce their interpretation of “law” on their own judgment. They will confiscate cell phones and review texts and posts, punishing women for contact with men or other “bad” behavior. (One effort included a hidey-seeky Android. Another took the waize app and modified the speed trap capability for reporting these Iranian enforcement groups. This second one has been a big success). The challenge is, they don’t want to advertise this successful technology. They fear reprisals from Iranian cyber capabilities. Since they piggybacked on Waize, it would be hard to shut it down without shutting down all of waize.

Calais refugees avoiding safe houses because of required biometric recognition. The Syrian cyber army have attacked organizations in Europe and families back home.

SS Tech may be adopted by the tech side of the world first.

Key choices:
“Alice” is British (we’ll find another name for her and for Bob).
The lifecycle is Alice’s privacy-enhancing product developed with and distributed to the Iranian underground.

Stage 1 — Seek and Availability
Bootstrapping, provisioning. Each party acting prior to contact.

Seek.

Availability.

Data Records:

Stage 2 — Approach and Reconnecting
Initiating contact within the context of the system.

Approach.

Reconnecting.

Data Records:

Stage 3 — Request and Triage
Vetting and credibility and establishing “good actor/bad actor” status

Request.

Triage.

Data Records:

Stage 4 — Comply & Direct
Insider provides direction, guidance, introductions.

Direct.

Comply.

Data Records:

Stage 5 — Consent and Provision
Guidance is followed. Permission and participation agreed to.
Consent.

Provision.

Data Records:.

Stage 6 — Disclose and Intake
Questions, information shared and recorded

Disclose
Intake

Stage 7 — Use Services and Provide Services
Collaboration
Promotion
Product distribution

Use Services.

Provide Services

Data Records:

Stage 8 — Accept Enhancement and Offer Enhancement
Additional services. Payment. Receipt of payment.

Offer Enhancement. .

Accept Enhancement. .

Data Records:

Stage 9 — Update and Maintain

Update. .

Maintain. .

Data Records:.

Stage 10 — Escalate Issue and Resolve Issue

Escalate Issue. .

Resolve Issue. .

Data Records: .

Stage 11 — Leave and Manage Exits
Job offer

Leave. .

Manage Exits..

Data Records:

Stage 12 — Re-engage and Re-engage
Request for fixes and enhancements
Re-Engage. .

Re-Engage. .

Data Records. .

[jandrieu]

@ChristopherA Agreed. I'd like to add this as an Engagement Model, which I suggest in issue #34. It's not a well-formed single use case, but I think the usage you describe is a good argument for verifiable claims and worth incorporating in the use case document.

[ghost]

i'm going to have to digest that... These were described to me as 'user stories'. I really like user-stories as a way to flesh-out the intricacies involved in a circumstance which in-turn leads to an array of use-cases. Also; WoT is used in W3 as Web of Things https://www.w3.org/WoT/ FYI.

[jandrieu]

This work advanced through the Amira engagement model: https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rwot5-boston/blob/master/final-documents/amira.md

Some lessons learned were incorporated into the new Focal Use Cases section.