Re:RFC 3339 vs. ISO 8601
by skissane on Monday October 25, 2021 @06:27PM
(#28993964)
> Neither. Access to legislation must be possible at no cost for everybody. Otherwise you can't expect people to follow it.
In the real world, most people follow legislation without ever reading it. People build a rough mental model, based on media sources, government websites, common sense, etc, which divides acts into "probably illegal", "probably legal", and "grey area". If they stick to the "probably legal", they are unlikely to have any legal problems. If they are seriously considering venturing into the "probably illegal" or "grey area" zones, a wise person hires a lawyer and gets some professional legal advice first. The majority of the population has no hope of ever understanding legislation – something people on this website tend to forget, because most people on this website are significantly more intelligent and better educated than the average person is. And even those of us who aren't intimidated by legislation and case law and law textbooks, in the way that the average person is, ought to remember the old adage "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client"–if you don't have the formal training and real-world experience of an actual lawyer, it is easy to make a costly mistake–e.g reading some law literally, and unfortunately you never found the case law which interprets it to mean something quite different from what it literally says. Keep the amateur lawyering as a hobby, maybe some real world situations where the cost of being wrong is low (such as challenging a parking ticket), and rely on a professional for anything actually important.
> Of course, that doesn't entitle you to a copy, making it available at libraries is already enough.
Well, ISO standards are freely available at some libraries. Generally national libraries, major public research libraries, university libraries (some of which are open to general public, others restrict admission to staff/students/etc.) Your local public library probably doesn't have any copies of ISO standards–mine doesn't. But, my local public library doesn't seem to have copies of legislation and case law either – my local public library has very little in the way of serious/professional/academic legal texts, just some very introductory stuff aimed at the general reader.
In the real world, most people follow legislation without ever reading it. People build a rough mental model, based on media sources, government websites, common sense, etc, which divides acts into "probably illegal", "probably legal", and "grey area". If they stick to the "probably legal", they are unlikely to have any legal problems. If they are seriously considering venturing into the "probably illegal" or "grey area" zones, a wise person hires a lawyer and gets some professional legal advice first. The majority of the population has no hope of ever understanding legislation – something people on this website tend to forget, because most people on this website are significantly more intelligent and better educated than the average person is. And even those of us who aren't intimidated by legislation and case law and law textbooks, in the way that the average person is, ought to remember the old adage "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client"–if you don't have the formal training and real-world experience of an actual lawyer, it is easy to make a costly mistake–e.g reading some law literally, and unfortunately you never found the case law which interprets it to mean something quite different from what it literally says. Keep the amateur lawyering as a hobby, maybe some real world situations where the cost of being wrong is low (such as challenging a parking ticket), and rely on a professional for anything actually important.
> Of course, that doesn't entitle you to a copy, making it available at libraries is already enough.
Well, ISO standards are freely available at some libraries. Generally national libraries, major public research libraries, university libraries (some of which are open to general public, others restrict admission to staff/students/etc.) Your local public library probably doesn't have any copies of ISO standards–mine doesn't. But, my local public library doesn't seem to have copies of legislation and case law either – my local public library has very little in the way of serious/professional/academic legal texts, just some very introductory stuff aimed at the general reader.