[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[no subject]



If you are concerned about hotel availability, I understand a few rooms are
still available at the conference hotel (the visiting team playing the
Chicago White Sox in the baseball playoffs will also be staying there).=20
=A0Program and
logistics info can be found on the Cohasset website <http://www.cohasset.com=
/>
.

Looking forward to seeing many friends and colleagues at MER 2000.

On separate matters, for those of you who have not visited my website=20
recently, there are several new items (and a new design) up on the site=20
including recent publications having to do with ethical and social issues fo=
r=20
ARM professionals, a series on electronic communications policy and news, a=20
PowerPoint presentation on "e-Records, the Sleeping Time Bomb within=20
e-Business" that I gave at the Virginia Internet Technology 2000 conference=20=
<
http://www.vitconference.org/index.html> last to a full house of CIOs,=20
economists, dot.com-ers and other business people (not a ARM professional in=
=20
the group) last week, and another PowerPoint presentation on the Uniform=20
Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) that I gave at the same=20
conference on behalf of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibilty,=
=20
a non-profit, public interest group that concerns itself with the benefits=20
and risks of technology to society <www.cpsr.org>. =A0

UCITA should be of considerable interest to U.S. archivists and records=20
managers because of the limitations it could place on reuse of information.=20
=A0Librarian associations are already lobbying heavily to defeat or amend th=
is=20
legislation that is being recommended in several states, as is the Society=20
for Information Management <http://www.simnet.org/>, the Institute of=20
Electrical and Electronics Engineers <www.ieee.org> and numerous other=20
organizations including all consumer groups that have taken a position on it=
,=20
and two dozen state attorney generals. =A0ARM professionals and their=20
organizations should weigh in on this legislation to be counted both=20
nationally and in their own states.

Because of the "choice of forum" clause, any information (e.g., Westlaw) or=20
software publisher (Microsoft, Intel, AOL, many others) can declare in which=
=20
state a license transaction is deemed to have transpired, even if neither th=
e=20
licensor or licensee are in that state. =A0Needless to say, the choice of ve=
nue=20
will be in the state that has the most pro-business provisions and the least=
=20
by way of individual and consumer protections. =A0This can have enormous=20
implications for all organizations in the use of software, hardware and=20
information suppliers. =A0Thus, UCITA is not a local state issue as many=20
believe it to be because it is a state law, but rather one with national=20
implications. =A0

Maryland has already enacted the law. Virginia, using what some call the=20
ready-shoot-aim method of legislation, has passed UCITA but has delayed its=20
implementation until July 2001 with the proviso that it be studied and=20
reconsidered by the Legislature before the end of 2000. =A0A few states have=
=20
tried to reverse the application of the UCITA laws in other states to their=20
own, such as Iowa, by passing legislation that declares that any such=20
transactions with citizens or businesses in Iowa are deemed to have taken=20
place in Iowa and are subject to Iowa laws, including consumer protection=20
laws for individuals and organizations.

Regards,

Rick Barry
www.rbarry.com

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>