The New York Times reports on a solution to the problems of trust and knowledge inherent in online social life—a solution anticipated in a movie from 1987.

Unearthing a potential mate’s cheating, thieving, maybe even psychotic ways during the early stages of courtship has always been tricky business. But it is particularly difficult today, when millions are searching for dates online and finding it far easier to lie to a computer than to someone’s face. But the Internet is now offering up an antidote. Web sites like DontDateHimGirl.com, ManHaters.com and TrueDater.com are dedicated to outing bad apples or just identifying people who may not be rotten but whose dating profiles are rife with fiction.

A colleague reports that he remembers this from Amazon Women on the Moon—”when a woman (I’m thinking Rosanna Arquette, but I could be wrong) took her date’s credit card, ran it through a card reader, and got an extensive printout on the guy.”