6. Legal issues

Most countries have privacy laws regarding the publication of information about people. They range from the relaxed US laws to the UK requirement that information should be accurate to the Norwegian law that says that you can't publish unless you get specific permission from the individual. Every maintainer of IWPS information should publish data according to the national law of the country in which the local database which holds the information resides.

Some of these are documented in [5] and [1].

A maintainer of IWPS information should also follow some common rules, even when they are not legally imposed:

• Publish only correct information.
• Give people the possibility to view the information stored about themselves and the right to withhold information or have information altered.
• Don't publish information "just because it's there". Publish what is needed and what is thought useful, and no more.

Given the number of data management and legal issues that are involved in publishing IWPS information, good consulting services are vital to have smaller companies quickly and efficiently join the IWPS. Internet service providers are encouraged to provide such services.