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Update: Eharmony is not in fact offering background checks. The RelyID is an identity authentication service only. I confused the fact that RelyID has access to criminal data, which is described in the press release, with background checks.
Good news for online daters, dating sites are starting to adopt background checks identity authentication services.
Today eHarmony announced the release of eHarmony RelyID, a new online ID verification service for eHarmony members. The service, which is a partnership with RelyID, a leading provider of age and identity verification services, gives eHarmony members the opportunity to easily validate key profile details which are viewed by other potential matches.
RelyID provides real time Identity Verification tools to consumers as well as businesses via a user-friendly web-based applications utilizing Knowledge Based Authentication.
RelyID’s extensive collection of accurate and up-to-date public records enables them to provide identity verification and information to businesses and consumers instantly. Additional services include access to the nation’s largest criminal screening database containing more than 300 million instant criminal records updated from direct sources on a monthly basis and verification of education, employment and professional certifications. The service is non-intrusive to consumers, maintains privacy while at the same time helping businesses prevent fraud and increase revenues.
RelyID is brought to you by Backgroundchecks, a leader in the background check industry. My good friend Pat Mangiacotti, charged with business development duties at Backgroundchecks.com, is a VP at RelyID. Pat and I worked together at Trufina and it’s great to see her years of hard work paying off.
Don’t think, as I mistakenly did, that eHarmony is doing a generic background check, there is a lot more to the system than a simple database lookup. First you have to make sure the party being checked is who they say they are. This identity verification service is accomplished via a series of “out of pocket” questions which only you should know about yourself. This portion of the process reveals past mailing addresses. Backgroundchecks.com and other services have showed me apartment addresses from 20 years ago.
Once a person is authenticated, then the background check is performed and relevant icons and badges are added to your eHarmony profile. The cost of the identity verification service is $5.95 per year.
RelyID is capable of querying goes out and queries databases, more than 2,000 if my memory serves correct. Most of the databases are accessed via companies like Choicepoint and others which aggregate all sorts of criminal and other databases.
How long have we been talking about Background checks and identity verification services here, three years at least? I expect the dating industry to quickly adopt identity verification services and background checks now that a top player has taken the plunge. Just like how it happened with anonymous calling.
The RelyID User Agreement reminds me of some of the personality testing Terms of Service, which tend to state that tests are for entertainment purposes only.
RelyID states:
For example, we make no warranties, representations, or guarantees that the RelyID service is accurate, complete, or current or that it will operate without interruption or error or that it is merchantable, fit for a particular purpose, or suitable for you.
You agree that we have no liability to you related to the RelyID service, even if we are negligent. In particular, we are not liable for any consequential damages (including lost opportunity, profits, use, or savings) or incidental damages, even if advised of their possibility, or punitive damages.
You agree to pay for our defense of any third party’s claim related to your breach of any of these terms or related to your negligence or wrongful act or omission related to the RelyID service. You agree to pay any settlement or judgment entered for any such claim.
The RelyID value proposition is not sounding so good at this point. Why am I being asked to try a service that doesn’t promise me anything of value and actually puts me in financial jeopardy? Where is the value to the consumer? The best-effort background check or the Verified icon on profiles?
I’m not a lawyer, but this made my head spin, it’s like selective enforcement.
If any of these terms are illegal or unenforceable, those terms will be removed and the remaining terms remain enforceable.
Granted I’m picking on the legal verbiage here, but isn’t that the first place you should go when deciding if an identity verification services background check is right for you? If the value proposition to the user is this unsettling, perhaps we need to evaluate the legality of background checks and identity verification services themselves.
What happens if I, a devious criminal, attack someone on a dating site, even though I have passed the background check? What about people that haven’t been caught yet? Is it illegal to falsify a criminal check?
More questions than answers for now. In short, background checks and identity verification services are a good thing for the online dating industry. Background checks are more about perception than reality, whereas identity verification services are fairly straightforward. Some dating sites will demand them, others, like eHarmony, will offer them as a value-added service, hoping that a Verified icon on a profile will make people feel better about contacting you, which will drive more members and revenue. Verification services are all about revenue, don’t forget it. dating sites won’t offer them unless they see money on the table or are legally bound to do so.
Identity verification services and Background checks will also further separate casual from serious daters and the sites the frequent.
I am interested to see what the social implications of identity verification services and background checks will be on dating sites. will they help or hinder? What sort of adoption rates are we looking at, single-digits or widespread? What do you think will happen?
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Blog reactions
4 responses so far ↓
1
eHarmony Blog (Check me out!)
// Jan 23, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Your good friend Pat Mangiacotti isn’t good at responding to emails. I sent him the message below twice over seven days and I haven’t heard a word from RelyID. Could this be a sign that the company is completely BS?:
Hello Pat:
I’m an eHarmony member considering your services and I have questions:
1. Do I lose my RelyID badge in eHarmony if I move or change my address on (A) eHarmony’s Account Settings screen (i.e., my credit card billing address), (B) eHarmony’s Match Settings screen (where I enter the city/state that my matches see), or (C) change my zip code (where I instruct eHarmony as the central point to do its proximity searches)? If so, can I reverify without additional charges? (This is a four-part question.)
2. If you cannot verify me (i.e., you found no record of me to ask me questions about), what happens? Do I get a refund?
3. Where is the RelyID privacy policy? Who gets access to any personal information I give you?
4. Is it possible that a close friend impersonates me and gets verified through your service?
As you can see, some questions also pertain whether I can rely at all on the relyID badges of the matches I receive in eHarmony.
Yours truly,
E
2
Pat (Check me out!)
// Jan 30, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Dave:
Traveling and laptop issues on this end — I did respond to “E” directly but, wanted to provide you with the details:
Do I lose my RelyID badge in eHarmony if I move or change my address on (A) eHarmony’s Account Settings screen (i.e., my credit card billing address), (B) eHarmony’s Match Settings screen (where I enter the city/state that my matches see), or (C) change my zip code (where I instruct eHarmony as the central point to do its proximity searches)? If so, can I reverify without additional charges? (This is a four-part question.)
Your RelyID verified city of residence shows up next to your profile name (the one that your matches see). This is separate from your billing address or even the address in which you have eHarmony look for matches for you. So your matches will always see that you are verified as living in another city if you choose to get matched with people in a different region. If you decide to move and want to change your verified address, you will need to call customer care to manually change that display address. When you do so, that turns off RelyID and you need to get verified again. You have to pay for this re-verification since $5.95 only pays for your 2 online verification tests (most people pass after only one time).
If you cannot verify me (i.e., you found no record of me to ask me questions about), what happens? Do I get a refund?
The RelyID testing process utilizes many national data sources, which encompass hundreds of millions of records on US adults that are updated daily in many cases. In the event that our automated service is unable to locate you, we do enable customers to manually validate themselves with a customer care agent. This manual validation process requires you to once again pass a series of challenge questions but will also require you to submit personal identification, which can include an official government issued ID.
Where is the RelyID privacy policy? Who gets access to any personal information I give you?
Any information submitted during the RelyID verification process falls first under eHarmony’s site-wide privacy policy, which can be found here, and is supplemented by the terms and conditions a user agrees to at the time he or she purchases RelyID. Next, during the testing process, you are connected to a secure server, which issues your personalized test questions. The questions are known/shown only to you and upon completion of the test, your answers are not stored nor are they shared with any 3rd parties either by eHarmony or RelyID.
Is it possible that a close friend impersonates me and gets verified through your service?
The RelyID testing process is a thorough, multi-step process that checks your information against a wide variety of national sources. The questions that it generates are customized exclusively for you, and unless your friend had been privy to all of your personal decisions over your lifetime, concerning residential, financial, and family, it would be near-impossible for someone to impersonate you.
Best,
Pat
3
cam (Check me out!)
// Mar 24, 2008 at 3:41 pm
The only answer to online dating safety is to create a way to legitimately prove your clean background and be able to comfort others by sharing your crime-free background credentials with them. Background checks will soon become the norm for online dating relationships… no matter how hard the dating sites try to avoid it. Check these guys out… they have the answer… http://www.crimshield.com, they are all over the news here in Arizona.
4
SD (Check me out!)
// Apr 29, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Read eH’s policy on not doing background checks. I think what they state is absolutely valid. The network of systems that these services rely upon are ridden with holes, erroneous information. So that can be downright disastrous to a person when used in a serious manner. Not to mention dating, where everyone seems to be so trigger-happy to jump ship at moment’s notice anyhow. Not a good trend for society in general. Circle back to fear-mongering politics of today and the situation we’re in abroad. It’s all sort of related. Step back and look at the 20K foot view of it all. Fear fear fear, we’re all going to die, da da da.
Good luck with your background checks. At least RelyID is simply verifying that the person is who they say they are. That’s enough for me, but even that might be going a bit too off the deep end.
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