What are the obligations facing libraries that wish to offer internet access?

Laws governing internet surveillance have been decreed in many parts of the world, prompted by the rise in terrorism and computer crime and the increasingly tense international political situation. One consequence of such laws is that libraries wishing to provide internet access for users must ask themselves what their duties are. In France, these include the duty to hold data on internet traffic (paragraph L. 34-1 of the Code des postes et communications électroniques) as well as the responsibilities outlined in the law on data protection. All bodies are required to keep data on users and so must exert some degree of control over who has access to their internet network. Libraries must therefore find ways to limit, or even move beyond, the duties imposed on them, without limiting the freedom of individual web users.
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