The Trustworthy and Trusted Web

Considering the recognised importance of a trustworthy Web and trustworthy ICT infrastructure, it is surprising that there is not a single agreed approach to how to actually develop them, or what are the desired properties of it. We are not even certain whether an inanimate infrastructure can be considered trustworthy at all. If the truly trustworthy Web is ever going to happen, this deficiency has to be addressed. This monograph analyses the concept of 'trustworthy ICT' from the dual perspective of its technical architecture and from the sociological perspective of a systemic creation of social reality. It aims to determine whether a single notion of trustworthiness can be agreed upon and whether the disparate collection of existing views can be consolidated into useful design criteria.

Against this systemic background, this monograph reveals the structure behind conflicts and misunderstandings of our modern perception of the trustworthiness of ICT. It defines seven views on trustworthiness and demonstrates that six of them can be used to structure not only research but also market practices. The monograph then postulates that the shared future of truly trustworthy Web (and any other trustworthy ICT infrastructure) is in the seventh view, in the systemic trustworthiness, and indicates required design properties of such a construct. This reasoning is then applied to the Web, with a specific focus on Semantic Web.