Legal issues and preservationJISC-PoWR WorkshopPreservation of Web Resources: Making a Start

25 June 2008

Jordan S. Hatchere: jordan at opencontentlawyer dot comw: http://opencontentlawyer.com

Disclaimers

• IAAL but of course IAALBIANYL

• I am a techie among lawyers, but not among techies

• I am not a specialist in web preservation

• But...

• I do work primarily in copyright and content issues

• I specialise in Law 2.0 issues and copyright issues such as CC

Legal issues

1. Data protection

2. Content related rules

3. Freedom of Information rules

4. Intellectual property

5. Third party websites and Education 2.0

Data Protection

• “Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.”

•- 5th DP principle.

Content related rules

• Defamation/libel

• Adult content (pornography)

• Obscenity

• Race / hatred rules

• Terrorism

IP Web preservation

trade marks

copyright

Copyright

• All rights reserved – permission need unless exception

• Archiving websites involves copying

• Material licensed for a project may be time restricted

• IP management at the beginning helps down the road as well (RIRO - rubbish in, rubbish out)

• No specific exception for web archiving

• May need to seek permission (a licence)

“some rights reserved”

Third Party sites

Terms of Use

Provided that you are eligible for use of the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and the Site Content and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Site Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep all copyright or other proprietary notices intact. Except for your own User Content, you may not upload or republish Site Content on any Internet, Intranet or Extranet site or incorporate the information in any other database or compilation, and any other use of the Site Content is strictly prohibited. Such license is subject to these Terms of Use and does not permit use of any data mining, robots, scraping or similar data gathering or extraction methods. Any use of the Site or the Site Content other than as specifically authorized herein, without the prior written permission of Company, is strictly prohibited and will terminate the license granted herein.

Terms of use

Overwhelmed? too much paperwork?

Risk management not total risk aversion

Don’t get so caught up on legal that you don’t ever actually get to preserve the web resources!

Risk management for preservation

• Identify the risks - What are the risks for your activities?

____________________________________

• Risk Avoidance – Pick what you preserve

• Risk Reduction – Find ways to reduce the liability on what you preserve

• Risk Acceptance – Accept that the risk is low and go ahead

• Risk Transfer – Insurance for preservation activities

Some thoughts...

• Try to balance the likelihood of a legal problem with the need for preservation.

• The preservationist should not to be the first one to think of the legal issues!

• If you find a particular legal problem, feed it back to the beginning of the pipeline -- the people in charge of creating the sites you preserve.

• Use available internal resources to help address the problems -- DP officers, Copyright officers, university legal, and others

• Use external resources such as JISC Legal or projects such as the Web2Rights project (http://www.web2rights.org.uk/)

Thanks!

Jordan Hatchere: webcontact ]AT[ opencontentlawyer D O T comw: http://opencontentlawyer.comw: http:twitchgamer.net

Credits

• CREATIVE COMMONS mark registered by Creative Commons.

• All trade marks are registered by their respective owners.

• Don’t Panic Badge - CC-BY by JL2003 and at http://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/2153602543/ (button from 1984 computer game version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

• The Information Padlock signpost is by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

• The Sun screenshot is presented as criticism and comment. All content copyright 2008 News Group Newspapers Ltd.

• Freedom of Information badge from the Ministry of Justice (formerly DCA at http://www.foi.gov.uk/logos/foilogo.htm)

• Paperwork - CC-BY-NC-SA by luxomedia and at http://www.flickr.com/photos/videolux/2390152100/