Data misuse (was Re: template matching..)

John E. Simpson wrote:

> Marcus, this is certainly a valid concern. If your data are that sensitive
> and open to malignant or ignorant misinterpretation, though, I'd suggest
> that the Web (and related containing technologies, XML among them) is not
> the place for them.

I'm more concerned with the fact that the consumer may be in a relationship that
the vendor is not aware of - kind of a digital 'Fatal Attraction'. (Ever arrive
at work to find your server in a pot of boiling water?)

> In the same vein, I can copy and paste the words of your message into any
> other sequence than the one you originally posted, and place the results on
> a website or (if so inclined) e-mail it to Al Gore over your signature.
> Whose fault is it then?

I don't mean malicious or casual use of the data - I mean business to business
transfer of information. Presumably XML data is arriving a site ready to use it
for a number of purposes - one is for display, another is for feeding some
undisclosed application. Where is the contract, or agreement of understanding
about the reliability of that data?

So I guess it's Al Gore's fault. :-)

> Again, I believe your concern IS valid in certain "publishing" domains. It
> just borders on the conspiracy-theory paranoid in THIS domain.

Publishing is the smallest part of this problem - we're all used to getting
mediocre data from the web; that's why we know better than to try to feed it into
a business application.


--
Regards,

Marcus Carr                      email:  mrc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
___________________________________________________________________
Allette Systems (Australia)      www:    http://www.allette.com.au
___________________________________________________________________
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
       - Einstein



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