The greatest danger is for non professionals who get the letter of the law, but not the context. On the other hand, the easy distribution of information, as well as the hypertext and multimedia capabilities of the Internet makes digital documents an irresistible proposition. The digital medium has opened up new fields of legal research, e.g., empirical studies. Documents are going digital for good reasons, and the process is irreversible politically and economically. However, the electronic environment raises both technological and policy issues.
Digital information is characterized by fragility and rapid technological obsolescence.
Under good conditions, books printed on acid-free paper, e.g., official state reports and codes, will last for centuries. They represent the original record of colonial America, and have survived several centuries in perfect mint condition. By comparison, the lifespan of a CD or disk is estimated at 10 to 30 years, but its lifespan is further limited by the hardware and software needed to read it. This means that digital information may become obsolete within five years unless it can be refreshed or migrated to a newer technology. Migration means moving files to a new system.