RE: Message from Kevin Guthrie, JSTOR's President (LONG)

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> The real issue
> immediately before all of us, who have relied increasingly on IP
> authentication, is whether we can strengthen that authentication or
> whether it is on its final legs as we need to move to a different method
> in order to keep our contractual obligations to information providers.

Either way, we all need to be certain that we're not promising more than
we can deliver in the license agreements we sign.  It would be foolhardy
for any library to guarantee the security of a publisher's proprietary
content; the best we can do is take "reasonable measures" to safeguard it.  
(And by the way, if you're reviewing a license agreement and want a good
model of "reasonable measures" language, just look in the section that
describes the licensor's obligations!)

-------------
Rick Anderson
rickand@unr.edu