more on Google Motto, fine distinctions and the ethics of knowledge

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <ob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: September 4, 2006 6:55:33 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: RE: [IP] more on Google Motto, fine distinctions and the  
ethics of knowledge

While ROBOTS.TXT is a nice hack it doesn’t really protect files from  
being cached all over the place. Also, it’s a negative flag so the  
failure mode is to ignore it.

It’s convenient but not sufficient for critical information. Perhaps  
the issue is coming to terms to the reality of the net—it is not a  
single well defined entity and conventions are not the same thing is  
legal requirements. When Reed Hundt spoke at F2C (Freedom To Connect)  
he advocated laws requiring the use of Internet protocols which  
misses the point of the Internet. For the same reason I advocate Net  
Neutrality as a concept but fear legislation which over defines.

ROBOTS.TXT is a nice convention but it’s not a substitute for better  
tools to control availability. We also need to understand what it  
means to live in a world where nothing is every forgotten.

Unfortunately it means being judged by the biddies of the future and  
may tilt politics towards who never had a thought outside the box or  
else were born with a deceptive façade – once a pathology and now an  
asset? We’ve learned, it’s far better to have an undo capability than  
to live in fear of doing the wrong thing – unfortunately pressing  
undo doesn’t always work.


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