[IP] more on Google Motto, fine distinctions and the ethics of knowledge
Begin forwarded message:
From: Bob Frankston <ob2-19-0501@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 4, 2006 6:55:33 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx, ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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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