There is a bit of confusion as to what I mean by responsibilty/advice and persmission, or denial, for a particular dive. Let me try to be a bit clearer.
If I present myself to a Dive Op and say I want to dive Devil's Throat, let's say, I think the prudent thing to do is look at C card, log and give a brief description of what the dive entails. If that diver has over a 100 dives, is AOW and is current, then he does that dive at his or her own risk. If a diver arrives at the dive op with OW cert, two months of certification, and only 7 dives, none done below 70 ft, I think the diver op has an obligation to advise the diver against this dive. That diver might not be expereinced enough to even know what dives are really beyond their experience level.
Now, if a diver goes to that dive shop with fake log and C card, it is obvious that diver is defrauding the Dive Op and would be totally responsible for his own actions.
When I first dove the USS Spiegel Grove the dive op would not let me do that dive until I showed them my log that I had done a bunch of dives below 85 ft, I had about 40 dives below that depth then, some over 110ft and one to 138 ft. That was, I think, very responsible for them to require to see my log and advise me on that dive. A guy came in the shop after me, in his late teens early 20s, with no experience and was told he could not do the dive. That, to me, is a responsible Dive Op.
No one is attempting to transfer responsibility, but some things need to be addressed.