Illusional delusions

[Tim May]

On Tuesday, December 25, 2001, at 01:38 PM, Adam Shostack wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 25, 2001 at 12:53:18AM -0600, someone claiming to be Black 
> Unicorn wrote:
> | Not new?  Name 5 prominent reputation brokers.  Reputation services?
> | Reputation clearing agents?  What manner of reputation do they 
> measure?
> | Trustworthiness?  Identity?  Creditworthiness?  One?  None?  All?  (I 
> can
> | only think of two, neither of which approach the level of 
> sophistication you
> | propose here).
>
> Dun and Bradstreet
> Standard and Poors
> Consumers Union
> Visa
> Experian
> The Food and Drug Administration (interesting because you'll sometimes
> see "Approved by the US FDA" on not-for-the-US packaging, but they're
> number 6 on my list.)
>
> Just had to pick that nit.

I didn't read far enough into BU's piece to see him asking such a silly 
question, or I would have also offered S&P and D&B as examples. 
"Foobarcorp's rating has been lowered from AAA to AA." Like it or not, 
they are in the business of reputation rating.

So is a Notary Public. So is a restaurant reviewer in a newspaper. So 
are Siskel and Ebert, er, Ebert and That New Guy.

So are the kosher meat dudes who stamp "Kosher" on food approved for 
consumption by Jews.

So are the "PC Labs" and other reviewers of new PC hardware.

We are swimming in a sea of such reputation services, just as we are 
swimming in what is basically an anarchic ocean.

--Tim May
"Ben Franklin warned us that those who would trade liberty for a little 
bit of temporary security deserve neither. This is the path we are now 
racing down, with American flags fluttering."-- Tim May, on events 
following 9/11/2001