Home | The Handling of Legal Issues  (Summary)
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LINKS 

International
Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) 
Cryptography and Liberty 2000: an international survey of encryption policy 2000. An assessment of national and international encryption policies from a civil liberties perspective. 
http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). 
Statement on libraries and intellectual freedom. Statement by the international umbrella of the library profession – stating principles of intellectual freedom. Draws on UN Declaration of Human Rights for support. 
http://www.ifla.org/V/press/pr990326.htm

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). 
IFLA position on copyright in the digital environment. August 2000. A more specific statement, giving details of the IFLA position on copyright in the digital environment. Includes a set of principles for guidance.
http://www.ifla.org/V/press/copydig.htm

OECD
Guidelines for consumer protection in the context of electronic commerce. An international example of guidance produced by co-operation between business and consumer groups. Used as basis for some national guidance (see above). The document is available as pdf files in a wide variety of languages.
http://www.oecd.org

Privacy policy of OECD
based very much from a business perspective. 
http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/document/displaywithoutnav/
0,3376,EN-document-589-17-no-21-17091-0,00.html

Cryptography policy: The Guidelines and the Issues. 
One of the earlier (1997) international cryptography policies aimed at global organisations. Recommended Guidelines by the OECD that could form a useful basis for policies.
http://www.epic.org/crypto/OECD/

UNICTRAL
UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) 
Model Law on Electronic Commerce with Guide to Enactment. 1996. A UN guide to legislation concerning e-commerce. Interesting example of global policy on this issue. The Model Law is indeed a model of clarity.
http://www.uncitral.org/english/texts/electcom/ml-ec.htm

Model Law on Electronic Signatures. 2001. 
As above, but this time regarding electronic signatures.
http://www.kisa.or.kr/policy/sub3/data/pdf/PD_00_01_UNCITRAL.pdf

Europe
Council of Europe 
Guidelines on Public access and freedom of expression in the networked information: Guidelines for a European cultural policy. One of the most important of the documents under this heading. Example of international guidance directed at institutions such as libraries, museums and archives. 
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Culture/Resources/
Reference_texts/Guidelines/freedom_expression.asp/; 

Council of Europe/EBLIDA. 
Guidelines on Library Legislation and Policy in Europe. November 1998. Contributions from many countries including UK, France, Hungary, Netherlands and Norway. Focus on freedom of expression, access and copyright. 
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Culture/Resources/
Reference_texts/Guidelines/ecubook_R3.asp

INDECS (Interoperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems). 
Summary final report. August 2000. Good example of a European Commission funded project into metadata. Aimed to allow the development of metadata in ways that permitted automated e-commerce in intellectual property in the network environment. 
http://www.indecs.org/project.htm#finalDocs

Total Library Management Concept (TOLIMAC). 
Edited final report. A good example of current research into secure library systems. TOLIMAC was an EU-funded research project, which aimed at developing a library management system enabling secure electronic information exchange through the Internet between library users and information providers.
http://tolimac.ulb.ac.be/

Ireland
Library Association of Ireland. 
Copyright and Related Rights Bill 1999. Copyright policy statement (most recent on website) concerning legal initiatives in Ireland and the EU. 
http://www.libraryassociation.ie/policy/copyright.htm

Spain
Internet Segura
The Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca will develop a national awareness campaign in 2003 aimed at parents, teachers, librarians and children to promote the secure use of the Internet. The use of filtering software is not enough, at the same time it is important to work in user education. The Foundation has drawn up a practical guide for the implementation of filtering software in schools and public libraries.
http://www.fcr.es

United Kingdom
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK)
Guidance from a professional organisation outlining the issues involved in e-commerce regarding libraries. Useful general background on the issues, but no real guidance provided.
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues/ity2525.html

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK)
Guidance notes on the use of filtering software in libraries. Brief guidance drawing attention to duties and responsibilities of libraries in respect of use of filtering software. Covers the legal situation in the UK, confidentiality and privacy, user education, children, workplace libraries, and liability implications of the use of filtering software.
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues/filter2.html

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK)
The use of filtering software in libraries. A brief policy outline of CILIP's stance towards use of filtering software.
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues/filter.html

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK)
Intellectual freedom and censorship, 1998. A broad statement concerning librarian's independence over determining collection of and access to information by the library service. Useful as the view of the UK profession on this issue.
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues/ifac.html

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Copyright Alliance (LACA)
LACA position on copyright in the digital environment. The main UK body lobbying for the library, information and archive professions and their users for fair practices in copyright. Draws heavily on the IFLA position on copyright in the digital environment.
http://www.cilip.org.uk/committees/laca/laca.html

EARL Network Services Policy Task Group
Has produced a series of issue papers on such topics as filtering and acceptable use polices. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/earl/issuepapers/

National Library of Wales 
Data Protection Policy. A detailed and considered data protection policy for this small national library, aiming at compliance with the UK Data Protection Act 1998. This would make a good model for many types of libraries.
http://www.llgc.org.uk/gwyb/dpa/dp_policy.pdf

Office of the e-Envoy 
E-Government: Authentication framework. December 2000. Part of the UK’s Information Age Government strategy, this document establishes a framework for authentication of online dealings with providers of public sector services.
http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/publications/frameworks/authentication/
authentication.htm

Tribe, A. 
UKOLN presentation: Public library websites and the Data Protection Act 1998. A presentation concerning the best practice issues that need to be taken into account by Public Library Web Managers to ensure compliance with the law in this area.
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/events/managing/tribe/plwmw2000/

University of Leicester, University Library. 
Data Protection Statement. 20 February 2001. An example of an academic library’s approach to data protection with respect to the UK Data Protection Act 1998. Rather brief, but a good starting point for a model.
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/libservices/dataprot.html

Home | The Handling of Legal Issues  (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4