Fwd: Microsoft SmartTags

[Karen Harker]

Has anybody heard of this?  Has anybody tested it?  Has anybody considered the impact this could have?   Karen   ========================================== I would like to bring to the attention of this list the controversy swirling around Microsoft's proposed SmartTags on several web developer lists.  Indeed many of you may already be aware of this.  SmartTags are links to various kinds of services, many of them commercial, which the next iteration of the Microsoft browser -- slated for release at the end of October -- will automatically add to a Web page as it is parsed. Defenders of this innovation contend that end-users already have a wide latitude in deciding how web pages will be displayed on their own computers and that this is merely a logical extension of choices which end-users ought to have.  Furthermore they contend that these users have a right to decide for themselves whether they want links not originally present on the page to be added by the browser. In response, I need only point out that the latitude enjoyed by users up to now affects the visual representation of a page and not its intellectual content.  Users have never had the "right" to see a page not of their own making flooded with hyperlinks by the corporation that happens to have a lock on the browser market.  If such a right existed, it would be dwarfed by the right of an author to be sure that what the user is seeing is what he actually wrote.  The addition of links to a page is part of the intellection content of that page.  It is part of the "speech" of that page which hopefully someday will be recognized as protected under the First Amendment. SmartTags blur important distinctions as to authorship and authenticity.  Many on this list have made a significant investment in online resources.  This has been done with the understanding that what we make available is free of interference and tampering -- particularly at the browser level.  SmartTags put this assumption into doubt. Leo Robert Klein Some Relevant Documents: Mossberg, Walter S.  "New Windows XP Feature Can Re-Edit Other's Sites".  Wall Street Journal (June 7, 2001) (http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB991862595554629527.html) Greene, Thomas C. "Smart Tags Due In Win-XP Browser".  theRegister.com (June 6, 2001) (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19557.html). Gillmor, Dan.  "Microsoft's Smart Tags Threaten Web". SiliconValley.com (June 14, 2001) (http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/opinion/dgillmor/dg061501.htm). Microsoft SmartTags FAQ (http://allmyfaqs.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Microsoft_SmartTags). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leo Robert Klein Library Web Coordinator home ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: http://patachon.com office ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ****************************************************************** Sun Microsystems, Inc. has published the second edition of its popular "Digital Library Toolkit", a valuable resource for anyone planning a digital collection. To download a free copy, go to: http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/libraries/digitaltoolkit.html ******************************************************************   Karen R. Harker, MLS UT Southwestern Medical Library 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Dallas, TX  75390-9049 214-648-1698 http://www.swmed.edu/library/