From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 12:35:12 +0800
To: vznuri@netcom.com
Subject: Re: Mandatory Voluntary Self-Ratings
Message-ID: <01I4LA5X6L8E8Y5CGR@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From:	IN%"vznuri@netcom.com"  "Vladimir Z. Nuri" 11-MAY-1996 04:32:46.80

>From: TCMay

>>If a system gets built into the WWW, as with proposals for PICS, it _will_
>>be used by those who want to control content. We should think twice before
>>helping in any way.

>I agree with your hesitation totally. I can easily see how the system
>would be twisted in unspeakable ways. but I can see a lot of very
>powerful positive uses too. as long as the best attempts are made to
>discourage the former and encourage the latter...  again, there is a
>question that the future might turn out to be more orwellian if no
>action is taken by internet designers whatsoever. I tend to believe
>that view.

	It currently appears that both groups doing PICS ratings are doing it
in a way that very much promotes unethical usage (by those wishing to control
content). This does not bode well for future uses of it.

>>(No, I'm not _against_ private ratings services...but this has little to do
>>with _me_, and I won't participate. More importantly, I won't have my
>>content have any kind of tag attached!

>notice that what you demand is wholly irrelevant. if you put something
>out in the public, in a world of free speech, anyone is free to
>rate your posting, or your opinions, etc.-- they just set a system
>that refers to the message-id of your posts or something.

>if what you are instead saying is that you will never insert your
>own tags into your content, well that is something you have control
>over. but you have absolutely no control over what people "attach"
>to your posts in a "virtual" sense.  anyone could set up the
>TCMay Rating Service and register ratings on everything you post in
>public.

	However, one can do things to disrupt the rating system. Until we've
got true AI, a web spider will be able to find and classify a newly-re-URLed
page a lot faster than the rating people are able to find it - especially if
one goes ahead and submits the web page to all the search engines every time
you reclassify it. A search engine could turn over all new pages to be rated -
but that would slow them down a lot, and other search engines would be used
more because they'd be more up to date.
	If you have some ratings services that you like - market-determined
ones, for instance - you can let them know the new URL also.

	The above is a bit harder for ratings of USENET posts and mailing list
messages, but there are so many of those that they'll be hard for a rating
service to keep up with.
	-Allen