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From: ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: The free market and scuba diving
Message-ID: <4205@alice.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 24-Aug-85 14:59:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: alice.4205
Posted: Sat Aug 24 14:59:47 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 12:49:54 EDT
References: <10169@ucbvax.ARPA>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 18

Barry Fagin's note on scuba equipment rentals is interesting,
and completely correct except for two minor details.

He says: "An interesting example of how the free market keeps
a sport safe, even though it may piss off libertarians."

Well, it doesn't piss off THIS libertarian.  That is how the
free market SHOULD work.

What DOES piss me off -- and is NOT the way the free market
should work -- is that I cannot say to the rental agency:
"Please rent me your equipment even though I am not certified:
I will agree, in writing, not to hold you responsible for anything
that happens to me as a result of my ignorance."  The trouble
is that the chances are too great that it will be possible to
convince a jury that because I am not certified, I could NOT have
made an informed decision to accept my own risks, and therefore
that the rental agency is liable ANYWAY!