Re: [httpRange-14] What do HTTP URIs Identify?

Joshua Allen wrote,
> But I am puzzled how this has ANY bearing on the following "axiom":
>
> "If two people independently use the same URI as an identifier, they
> should be able to have a reasonable degree of confidence that they
> are identifying the same resource.

Where is that confidence supposed to come from?

Whatever you think http://www.w3.org/ identifies, I think you'll agree 
that there are people who take it to identify a particular document, 
and there are people who take it to identify the W3C's web-site.

If you do, then you can't have "a reasonable degree of confidence" that 
when you use http://www.w3.org/ you're using it to identify the same 
thing as everyone else, because you have to disagree with at least one 
of those two groups.

In which case the "axiom" tells you not to use http://www.w3.org/ as an 
identifier, which is ridiculous; or not to use it independently (ie. 
reach some explicit agreement about it's use with all relevant 
parties), which is typically impractical.

At best the axiom can be taken as a sensible recommendation for closed 
or partially closed systems.

Cheers,


Miles

Received on Friday, 2 August 2002 17:23:13 UTC