On Wed, 13 Sep 1995, Black Unicorn wrote:
But won't clients insist on proper credentials in one form or another? Doesn't the practicality and accountability of a centralized authority (or several authorities) provide the best answer to this? Who is going to accept my signature promising that I did indeed get a law degree and pass the bar?
An educational institution can certify its own graduates --- it does now. Competing credentialing institutions is exactly what I would be looking for as opposed to today's coercive monoply. No matter how skilled, it is illegal for an unlicensed person to practice law, medicine, or many other professions in any state. The nets weaken these restrictions because they allow action at a distance. Note the other effects of the nets. They make it hard to tell that you *are* working which reduces the impact of regulations of work by "illegal aliens." Thus if I am wandering through the South of France while writing the 'Great American Novel' I am unlikely to get busted for violation of work restrictions. The nets expand the number of jobs I can do while innocently wandering the South of France. I can or will soon be able, for example, to manage a large international corporation from anywhere. DCF "Who actually prefers Le Massif Central to those hot and crowded southern climes."