Archiving the Web – some legal aspects

Technological developments have changed the concepts of publication, reproduction and distribution. However, legislation, and in particular the Legal Deposit Law has not adjusted to these changes – it is very restrictive in the sense of protecting the rights of authors of electronic publications. National libraries and national archival institutions, being aware of their important role in preserving the written and spoken cultural heritage, try to find different legal ways to live up to these responsibilities. This paper presents some legal aspects of archiving Web pages, examines the harvesting of Web pages, provision of public access to pages, and their long‐term preservation.