Those who decide to browse some public administration sites (and not only) must deal with any risks, dangers and damages they may incur: problems for which the various bodies decline all responsibility. There are several subjects who reiterate this concept in the legal notices of their websites and web portals, from Ministry of Economy at the State Accounting, passing through the Court of Auditors (who recently changed his) andItalian drug agency (Aifa).
One problem that Italian Tech raised a few days ago, revealing it as a disclaimer of the new sito del Recovery Plan, Italy Tomorrow, warns that «the user accepts that the site and all its contents, including any services offered, are provided” as is “and” with all errors “». Not only that: we also read that the “State General Accounting does not guarantee that the site is compatible with the user’s equipment or that it is free of errors or viruses, bugs or “Trojan horses” “and that” it is not responsible for any damage suffered by the user due to such elements of nature destructive”.
Formulations that are also found on other websites, such as agencies, public bodies and schools. Often the text is identical, word for word. Other times, however, different expressions are used to clarify, however, that no type of guarantee is issued on the published contents, or that no liability is accepted for possible damages suffered by the user. In this article we have dealt with the sites of the ministries.
The copy and paste
One disclaimer on the portal of Ministry of Economy clarifies that the user accepts that the use of the site «is at your sole risk“. And he specifies not to release “any kind of guarantee, explicit or implicit, regarding the contents, including, without any limitation, the lawfulness, the right of ownership, the convenience or the suitability for particular purposes or uses “. From the site it is possible to access various databases, such as the expenses of the state budget, equity investments and real estate held by the PA, fiscal statistics, as well as of course public finance documents, reports, studies and reports. The user interested in reading this information, however, must keep in mind that the site and contents «are provided” as is “and” with all errors “» and therefore the Mef does not give any guarantee on the data it provides. All that remains is to trust the authors of the documents and the IT experts of the Ministry, therefore. But these expressions, quite common in the legal notes also of other types of sites, here give rise to serious doubts, given that they concern one of the bodies considered among the primary and most reliable sources of financial information relating to public administrations.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case: on the contrary, it seems almost an automatism, a copied and pasted text, which the Mef shares with other public institutions and agencies.
Some variation to the shape
Other ministries instead present shorter legal notices to decline any responsibility for errors, omissions or for “direct, indirect or accidental damage deriving from the use of any form of content published or from the access or use of material contained in other sites mentioned or accessible through links on the portal”. This is the case of the ministries of Work and Health. But the same formulations, with minimal modifications, are used by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transport, Culture and Justice, which do not assume “any responsibility for any errors or omissions of any kind and for any type of direct, indirect or accidental damage. deriving from reading or using the information published, or any form of content on the site or for accessing or using the material contained in cited and / or linked sites “. The legal notices of these sites (with the exception of the portals of the Ministries of Culture, Justice and Labor) underline however that «the texts reproduced on the site are offered for consultation for information purposes only. In case of divergence from the original texts, the latter are entirely authentic and prevail over those published on the site ». The Ministry of Labor, on the other hand, specifies that “the contents published on the portal are periodically checked and updated”. Phrases that, on the one hand, clash with the previous disclaimer, on the other generate a bit of confusion in the reader, who might ask what they depend on and what are these possible “divergences” between the original texts and those published on the site, of what errors and omissions you are talking about, what damage could be caused by reading or using the information published.
Reading them, it seems to understand that websites designed and created to inform the public about the activity of our government and its ministers may not be as reliable as we would expect, or they may involve unspecified damages, for which the user cannot ask. account to the public administration.
Curious is the case of portal of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of University and Research. He is keen to clarify that he cares about the quality of the information published, “their integrity, updating, completeness, timeliness, ease of consultation and accessibility”. However, he reiterates that “in any case, the user accepts that the site and all its contents, including any services offered, are provided” as they are “”: he therefore uses the same formula as the Mef, but eliminates the part “with all the errors ”which we find on the website of the Ministry of the Economy. And then he adds that the body “does not issue any kind of guarantee, explicit or implicit, regarding such contents, including, without any limitation, the lawfulness, the right of ownership, the convenience or the suitability for particular purposes or uses” . Once again this generic disclaimer, at least as formulated, risks undermining the credibility of documents and texts published by the Ministry’s experts. The site, in fact, in addition to providing news on schools and universities, contains documents, regulations and databases on the world of education open to everyone, from individuals to professionals to companies, to be downloaded and consulted online. Beyond a few changes in form, in substance, the Miur also adopts the same approach as the other ministries, avoiding issuing any type of guarantee on this information and declining any responsibility for any damage related to access to the site, inability or inability to access it.
The Ministry of Defense admits that the material published on the site “is not always necessarily exhaustive, complete, accurate or up-to-date”. And remember that “it cannot be guaranteed that a document available online exactly reproduces an officially adopted text. Therefore only the legislation published in the paper editions of the Official Gazette is considered authentic ». So also this body reiterates that it cannot be held responsible “for damages of any nature caused directly or indirectly by accessing the site, by the inability or impossibility to access it, by your reliance and use of the information contained therein” .
Very short the note from the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, which does not contain disclaimers, but only addresses copyright issues. While the site of the Ministry of the Interior merely points out that the body is not responsible for “the data and information reported on external sites” linked to it.
Virtuous examples
These disclaimers can raise doubts about downloaded documents and even fears of catching some viruses while browsing. But there are also sites that, in the section relating to legal notices, highlight the commitment to guarantee the quality of the contents.
The portal of the Like other sites, the Ministry of Economic Development and that of Ecological Transition exclude any liability “for damages of any nature caused directly or indirectly by accessing the site, by the inability or impossibility of accessing it”; however, the first underlines the effort to ensure the quality of the information published and its updating; and the second explains that “all the documents published on this site conform and correspond to the original documents”.
Finally, almost all ministers without portfolios, who perform the functions delegated to them by the premier, have a website whose legal notes are the same as those of the Italian government and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Even if the exclusion of any responsibility for any damage caused by the use of the site and on the “correctness and completeness” of the links to external sites indicated on the portal is reiterated, the entities confirm their commitment to ensure the quality of the information published “as well as their integrity, updating, completeness, timeliness, ease of consultation and accessibility “.
Ultimately, on 14 sites of ministers with portfolios, two do not issue any guarantees on the contents, reiterating that the user must accept them “as they are”: in particular, that of the Mef also specifies that the user accepts that the use of the site “is at your own risk and peril”; six others do not assume “any responsibility for any errors or omissions” and for any damage resulting “from the use of the information published”; another admits that the published material is not always complete and up-to-date, and specifies that the body cannot be held responsible for damage caused by accessing the site. A greater effort on the part of the public administration would be needed to reassure citizens on the reliability of the information they consult on institutional sites: digitization also passes through here.
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