Niccolo is being Puckish (1); his whimsical post cleverly highlighting 'what it ain't' rather than what it was supposed to be; and lays the blame for 'what it is', firmly where it belongs. He is quite clearly aware of the issues debated, particularly in educational and legal fields about the pros and cons of just such a system. Education being a useful by-product of a sensible rule set, preventing unintended breach. I also suspect he knows full well that the only sane method of matching the fast pace of technical and operational development is to get the rules either ahead of the game; or, positioned so that no matter 'how' a safety outcome is achieved, compliance is always the end result. Personally, I like to think of outcome based legislation as a rule written to guide the wise man. 101 "Thou shallt not run out of fuel, for there is no help for thee if thou doest". But, then again the 10 commandments were simple outcome based rules and look at the unholy mess those have landed us in.
Food for thought -my bold
HERE
[Extract] - By principles-based regulation, the ALRC is referring to both the tools of regulation—that is, the principles—and adopting a more outcomes-based approach to regulating privacy. This section will examine in turn the theory of principles-based regulation and the notion of an outcomes-based—or ‘compliance-oriented’—approach to regulation.
4.5 Principles-based legislation relies on principles to articulate the outcomes to be achieved by the regulated entities. According to Professor Julia Black, principles are ‘general rules … [that] are implicitly higher in the implicit or explicit hierarchy of norms than more detailed rules: they express the fundamental obligations that all should observe.’ Black states that principles-based regulation avoids ‘reliance on detailed, prescriptive rules and rel[ies] more on high-level, broadly stated rules or principles’
4.6 Part of the guiding purpose of a principles-based approach is to shift the regulatory focus from process to outcomes. The rationale for this is described as follows:
Regulators, instead of focussing on prescribing the processes or actions that firms must take, should step back and define the outcomes that they require firms to achieve. Firms and their management will then be free to find the most efficient way of achieving the outcome required/
4.7 Principles-based regulation can be distinguished from rules-based regulation in that it does not necessarily prescribe detailed steps that must be complied with, but rather sets an overall objective that must be achieved. In this way, principles-based regulation seeks to provide an overarching framework that guides and assists regulated entities to develop an appreciation of the core goals of the regulatory scheme. A key advantage of principles-based regulation is its facilitation of regulatory flexibility through the statement of general principles that can be applied to new and changing situations. It has been said that such a regulatory framework is exhortatory (acting or intended to encourage, incite, or advise) in that it emphasises a ‘do the right thing’ approach and promotes compliance with the spirit of the law.
And again -
Here
(1) Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever, mischievous elf or sprite that personifies the trickster or the wise knave. In the play, Shakespeare introduces Puck as the "shrewd and knavish sprite" and "that merry wanderer of the night" in some scenes it would seem that he is longing for freedom and he is also a jester to Oberon, the fairy king.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(A...ht's_Dream)
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honour or goodwill.
Cin cin.