[IncRnd]

> Much better would be a UUID generated from unique values, like a hash of the timestamp and publisher of a book. If you limit the length and number of the fields you hash to generate the UUID, you could even prove there will be zero collisions and eliminate any need to collision checks and thus an organization that charges money.

That's false. Your algorithm of hashing a timestamp and book publisher name cannot be proven to be collision-free.

[8n4vidtmkvmk]

but the probability of 16 completely random bytes is extremely low..

[IncRnd]

Yes, but I was refuting a false point, that those bytes can be proven to never collide... Obviously, they can collide. In the real world, programmers should be prepared for random collisions, yes, but also for created collisions...

False assumptions are the bane of correct design and will cause an entire system to fail in unpredictable ways or be exploited without detection.