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----- Original Message ----- From: Uche Ogbuji <uche.ogbuji@f...> To: <Edwin.Fine@C...> Cc: <xml-dev@l...> Sent: 17 January 2001 21:50 Subject: Re: Dereferencing Namespace URIs considered harmful > > I feel that dereferencing part of a two-part name because of > > its accidental resemblance to something that exists outside of the > > context of that name is tantamount to the old mistake of "overloading" > > part of a database key to mean something else. As an example, I am > > reminded of a telephone company that assigned special meaning to > > the high-order digits of a subscriber's account number, on the assumption > > that there would never be that many subscribers. Of course, the fateful > > day > > arrived where the number of subscribers reached critical mass, and > > suddenly people found themselves getting huge discounts on their phone > > bills, simply because their account numbers had fallen into the previously > > reserved range. Fixing the problem proved very troublesome. > > Paul T and I already argued pretty much the same viewpoint, and I even > used the exact same argument of Chris Date's paper "Don't Encode Information into Primary Keys!" (in Relational Database Writings 1989-1991) bears on this. However this is not the principal reason why I think mindlessly dereferencing URIs is harmful. The reason it is harmful is that you may be given a URL which when dereferenced causes harm to others. John Wilson The Wilson Partnership 5 Market Hill, Whitchurch, Aylesbury, Bucks HP22 4JB, UK +44 1296 641072, +44 7976 611010(mobile), +44 1296 641874(fax)
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