Re: LOCKSMITH'S GUILD WANTS L

[Mark Grant <mark@unicorn.com>]

On Wed, 25 Jan 1995, Charles Bell wrote:

> how do
> we ensure that those skyscrapers don't fall down on us?  That the surgeon
> who is going to open me up knows something about surgery?  That my money
> is at least somewhat safe in the bank?

With non-government reptutation and certification agencies. Currently the
government is saying 'there shall be one certification agency and it shall
be us', whereas personally if I were hiring someone to design a skyscraper
or cut me open I'd much prefer to pick someone who had a good rating from
three or four independent agencies. 

The only difference is that you would have the choice of choosing someone
cheap who didn't have a good reputation, not that we'd give up on them
altogether (see the numerous past discussions of reputations etc on the 
list, and the Cyphernomicon).

> ....once we get past what seems to be your utter refusal to consider
> the possibility that government could ever do anything right ....

Another thing to consider is that the government monopoly has a lot less
to lose by certifying people incorrectly than a commercial agency would.
The government's reputation is low enough already that such errors won't
affect it significantly, whereas a commercial agency would lose a lot of
custom to its competitors. 

		Mark