The Power of Permalinks

Q: What do avid bicyclists and handgun owners have in common?

A: Two things are a need to know the law, and a desire to discuss it.

So I conclude that the ability to find, read, and share the law online is a good thing. It might even be the beginning of a more transparent and democratic era. These screenshots show people participating in exactly this way, who were helped out by this website. (Awesome!)

This all might look easy, e.g., "So just make a website, and people can link to it ... what's the big deal?" In reality, though, it's difficult to pull off, and so the status quo is, it doesn't happen.

Just look around the web: most pages don't have permalinks ("Persistent URLs", "PURLs") that people can use. And often, even if a web page does have a URL that seems good for linking, there are other show-stoppers: it may not stay working. Or if it does stay working, then it may not contain the same content in a few months' time.

Some great people have taken the story further, writing lighthearted web pages (Tim Berners-Lee), and creating videos (Citability.org).