Tags

People, Organizations and online Places have names, labels and brands.
These establish reputations and help end users decide where to go and with whom to deal.
They also help to signal what rules apply to interactions in any given online location.

Because brands are valuable and create continuing relationships, they help to provide assurance that the brand owner will live up to promises regarding quality, enforce rules, exclude harmful materials or actors, and otherwise assure the value of the online service or experience associated with the brand.

Some labels, names and tags help to distinquish one type of area or activity or person from another.

• Domain names may (or may not) indicate the geographic location of a web site owner (.fr) or the type of institution sponsoring a site (.edu).
  
• Labels can provide assurance that certain quality assurances principles or policies (such as privacy policies) apply (Better Business Bureau, TRUSTe).
  
• Email addresses and subject lines may identify a correspondent as a friend or as a commercial advertiser.

Links to web sites may or may not be accompanied by accurate descriptive information. But when the "tag" is accurate and recognized, the effect is very substantial compression of the amount of information that needs to be exchanged in order to assure the end user that the interaction in question will be valuable.

Some forms of "labels", such as encrypted ceritificates can provide assurances regarding the identity of a third party or the authenticity of a document found online.

• Imposition of or access to unwanted material
• Fraud and theft and unauthorized access
• Spamming (or, at least, reading of spam)
• Unsatisfactory or fraudulant commercial dealings
• Confusion or uncertainty regarding the nature of or role played by other persons online

Cross references:

• Encryption