MLA has produced a Briefing on sections 3-16 of the Digital Economy Act for museums, libraries and archives. This briefing is to help museums, libraries and archive services try to understand their role and obligations under the terms of the Digital Economy Act 2010 (DE Act)1. This Act established legislation on a range of digital communications issues, including online infringement of copyright and the related duties of those providing internet access services to the public.
The DE Act also requires Ofcom to approve an initial obligations code, the draft version of which is currently out for consultation. This will then be followed by a statutory instrument. This briefing document provides some information on relevant elements of that consultation for museum, library and archive services. (Please note that often such services are in turn dependent on your local authority’s technical infrastructure / service agreements with broadband providers). However, services are urged to read the consultation for themselves and respond where relevant to their organisation.
Why should I read this briefing?
- New legislation on copyright protection on the internet will mean new obligations for museums, libraries and archives.
- It may have implications for your public internet access services.
- It’s important to understand your obligations under the legislation because non-compliance has legal, reputational and financial risks.
- You currently have the opportunity to influence the Ofcom initial code of obligations, which will enforce the new Act and may apply to your organisation, because it is out for consultation http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/copyright-infringement/
- To mitigate risks to the sector, The MLA, the British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) have produced a number of briefing documents and templates to help the sector understand the Act and Ofcom’s new code of practice and respond to the consultation (please see related links).