Technology and Law

Fri Sep 12 12:43:42 GMT 2003 Technology and Law

Link: Law seeks 'deposit' of web sites with UK libraries

This is a good example of the problems that come up when legislators have good ideas but don't really understand the technology.

The intentions are good. However, the unstated presumption is that web sites are relatively static, or that they have editions like magazines or newspapers. That's not the case, of course, and while some sites are more dynamic than others, very few match the model this UK law has in mind.

Many sites nowadays are partially comprised of RSS feeds from other sites, and there are some that are entirely feeds. Those sites change every moment, and could probably swamp the poor library computers if they had to submit updated pages every time they changed.

As this article asks:

Is it a copy of all files comprising a site that is required? Is a fully operational off-line version required for access at the libraries? Is the content management system to go with the files? How do sites ensure that personal information is not included? What about password-protected areas or other pages that a site does not want publicly archived?

We are not told the answers. But it's easy to see how the costs could become prohibitive, particularly for small organisations with large web sites. These details are left to the Secretary of State's future regulations.

Imperfect understanding leads to bad law. No doubt common sense will prevail.. we hope.

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