The No‐nonsense Guide to Legal Issues in Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing

Citation

Calvert, P. (2013), "The No‐nonsense Guide to Legal Issues in Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing", The Electronic Library, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 399-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-04-2013-0074

It is perhaps unfortunate that information managers have to be very well aware of the laws that constrain what they do in numerous facets of their professional lives. I say unfortunate because it seems that many librarians and archivists (less so the records managers) seem unaware, almost wilfully so in some cases, of the laws that they must abide by. Hence a guide that explains these legal issues to information managers in clear and non‐technical language is a very useful addition to the literature. For someone to write this guide there could be no better person that Charles Oppenheim, who has been interested in the overlap between the law and information since the 1970 s, and his involvement has only increased since then.

The chapter headings explain the contents of the book: after a brief introduction there are chapters on copyright; other intellectual property rights and related rights; data protection and privacy; freedom of information; defamation; cloud computing; and liability. The final chapter lists many useful sources. Of these, copyright is an ongoing issue for all information managers, though some of the other topics such as defamation less so except, perhaps for those in a “special” library. The content is reinforced in every chapter with “Web 2.0 point” sections, case studies, and exercises. Examples that cover topics from Google to Lady Gaga show how wide the intended audience for this book is envisaged.

The book's title makes a point of mentioning Web 2.0 and cloud computing and these are certainly treated well in the book. Perhaps the addition of these terms is to aid sales, but nevertheless, changes to the computing environment since 2000 have changed the nature of some legal issues. This makes Oppenheim's task much harder, for often questions arise in disputes that have an international context to which there can be very few clear answers as it often depends which national legislation will apply; and very often that is all the author can say. This is unavoidable and so is not a weakness. The book's focus on British and to a lesser extent on European law will be something American and other readers find reduces the value of the book. For me, this book will be on my shelf for many years to come.