In addition to the Alicia Ryan piece on digital preservation cited by Mary, there is another recent publication on rights issues in digital preservation. Catherine Ayre and Adrienne Muir recently published "The Right to Preserve: The Rights Issues of Digital Preservation." It is in the March issue of D-Lib Magazine, at <http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march04/ayre/03ayre.html>.
Ayre and Muir led a British study to investigate legal issues in digital preservation. They surveyed English stakeholders about their activities, and also surveyed practice in other countries. My quick take is that they feel that the legal questions have been complicated because there is no agreement on who should be responsible for preservation. Without first determining who has a legal mandate to preserve, it is hard to know what legal rights they need.
Comments