Comments on: The case of the disappearing case law http://inpropriapersona.com/2009/08/the-case-of-the-disappearing-case-law/ Law + tech + history, from a JD/PhD graduate student in the history of science. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:32:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Kristopher Nelson http://inpropriapersona.com/2009/08/the-case-of-the-disappearing-case-law/#comment-57 Kristopher Nelson Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:01:55 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=837#comment-57 cloud supporter, There are indeed potential technical solutions. Many libraries try to capture journal publications by their institutions in repositories to keep an archive outside of the journal alone. The U.S. government has even gotten into this by requiring NIH-funded research to be stored on their system (PubMed) as well as on the systems of private publishers. The Wayback Machine at archive.org is also a good resource. Still, paper had the benefit of built in massive mirroring: once published, it was difficult to impossible to obliterate a publication (whether that was case law or not). Electronic publication does not have that same in-built defense (although data still tends to stick around electronically anyway). I'm not sure a gov't solution is best, or even if we need a solution at all -- but it is unsettling to see the biggest repositories of case law quietly remove a case with no trace remaining on their systems at all. cloud supporter,

There are indeed potential technical solutions. Many libraries try to capture journal publications by their institutions in repositories to keep an archive outside of the journal alone. The U.S. government has even gotten into this by requiring NIH-funded research to be stored on their system (PubMed) as well as on the systems of private publishers. The Wayback Machine at archive.org is also a good resource.

Still, paper had the benefit of built in massive mirroring: once published, it was difficult to impossible to obliterate a publication (whether that was case law or not). Electronic publication does not have that same in-built defense (although data still tends to stick around electronically anyway).

I’m not sure a gov’t solution is best, or even if we need a solution at all — but it is unsettling to see the biggest repositories of case law quietly remove a case with no trace remaining on their systems at all.

]]> By: cloud supporter http://inpropriapersona.com/2009/08/the-case-of-the-disappearing-case-law/#comment-56 cloud supporter Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:33:13 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=837#comment-56 There are ways to save a website as it was first published or making your own server where one placed on it cannot be edited or taken down. Wikipedia has something like this where the poster of any information must authorize ALL changes. I'm going out on a limb to believe that there is a setting to make it so no changes can be made at all. I'm sure it wouldn't take much for the government to create something like this and keep it secure. There are ways to save a website as it was first published or making your own server where one placed on it cannot be edited or taken down. Wikipedia has something like this where the poster of any information must authorize ALL changes. I’m going out on a limb to believe that there is a setting to make it so no changes can be made at all. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for the government to create something like this and keep it secure.

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