Method and system for incorporating trusted metadata in a computing environment

1. A method for providing trustworthy information about an item, the method comprising:

querying a personalized database of trusted metadata concerning the item, the personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report, the at least one report emanating from metadata received from an informer network, the informer network including a computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly to have opinions that coincide with those of the computer user, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including one of an explicit subjective assertion, by an informer in the informer network from which that report originated, regarding the quality of an item and an explicit expression, by the informer in the informer network from which that report originated, of a degree of trust in another informer regarding the another informer's opinions; and

indicating to the computer user the item's subjective quality based on at least one report about the item from an informer in the informer network in the personalized database of trusted metadata.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to an Internet search by the computer user and the item is a search result in a list of displayed search results.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the search results in the list of displayed search results is prioritized in accordance with its subjective quality as determined from the personalized database of trusted metadata.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to the computer user's navigating to a Web page using a Web browser and the item is the Web page.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

querying the personalized database of trusted metadata regarding a linked Web page pointed to by a hyperlink on the Web page; and

indicating the linked Web page's subjective quality based on at least one report about the linked Web page in the personalized database of trusted metadata.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein indicating the linked Web page's subjective quality includes visibly marking the hyperlink.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to the computer user's downloading a file from a network and the item is the file.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

validating the file by querying the personalized database of trusted metadata for reports associated with a unique digital signature of the file.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to a request from the computer user to display a list of processes running on a computer and the item is a process in the displayed list of processes running on the computer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to an attempt by the computer user to launch a process on a computer and the item is the process.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

restricting execution of the process when the process's subjective quality satisfies predetermined criteria.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to a request from the computer user to display, in a file browser application, a list of files accessible from a computer and the item is a file in the displayed list of files.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying is performed in response to a request from the computer user via a wireless communication device for information about a product and the item is the product.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the request is input to the wireless communication device via a digital image of an identification code associated with the product, the digital image being captured by the wireless communication device.

15. A method for processing an item by computer, the method comprising:

querying a personalized database of trusted metadata concerning the item, the personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report, the at least one report emanating from metadata received from an informer network, the informer network including a computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly to have opinions that coincide with those of the computer user, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including one of an explicit subjective assertion, by an informer in the informer network from which that report originated, regarding the quality of an item and an explicit expression, by the informer in the informer network from which that report originated, of a degree of trust in another informer regarding the another informer's opinions;

determining the item's subjective quality based on at least one report about the item from an informer in the informer network in the personalized database of trusted metadata; and

processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the item is an on-line advertisement and the on-line advertisement's subjective quality is derived from a query of the personalized database of trusted metadata concerning a business entity with which the on-line advertisement is associated.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality includes prioritizing display of the on-line advertisement, on-line advertisements having a higher subjective quality being given priority over advertisements having a lower subjective quality.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein an endorsement from a rating informer is displayed with the on-line advertisement.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality includes adding the item to a compilation of items of interest to the computer user.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the item is selected at random in response to a request from the computer user.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the item is selected at random and processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality includes bringing the item to the computer user's attention when the item's subjective quality satisfies predetermined criteria specified by the computer user.

22. A system for incorporating trusted metadata in a computing environment associated with a computer user, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing a plurality of program instructions configured to cause the processor to:

query a personalized database of trusted metadata, the personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report, the at least one report emanating from metadata received from an informer network, the informer network including the computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly to have opinions that coincide with those of the computer user, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including one of an explicit subjective assertion, by an informer in the informer network from which that report originated, regarding the quality of an item and an explicit expression, by the informer in the informer network from which that report originated, of a degree of trust in another informer regarding the another informer's opinions; and

perform a task in the computing environment based at least in part on results of a query of the personalized database of trusted metadata, the results being based on at least one report about the item from an informer in the informer network in the personalized database of trusted metadata.

23. A computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions executable by a processor to incorporate trusted metadata in a computing environment associated with a computer user, the program instructions comprising:

a first instruction segment configured to query a personalized database of trusted metadata, the personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report, the at least one report emanating from metadata received from an informer network, the informer network including the computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly to have opinions that coincide with those of the computer user, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including one of an explicit subjective assertion, by an informer in the informer network from which that report originated, regarding the quality of an item and an explicit expression, by the informer in the informer network from which that report originated, of a degree of trust in another informer regarding the another informer's opinions; and

a second instruction segment configured to perform a task in the computing environment based at least in part on results of a query of the personalized database of trusted metadata, the results being based on at least one report about the item from an informer in the informer network in the personalized database of trusted metadata.