Great idea, and this is a good example.

I guess I am imagining an ideal world where someone such as yourself who understands the issues is in a position to put forward new legislation. In my view Libel, Digital Economy, Data Protection, Freedom of Information all go together here - in each case application of the law can have an adverse impact (probably unintended) on lawful activity and freedom.

So far as published scientific research is concerned, this means supporting open manuscript repositories, open access journals and/or new hybrid publication models.

One of the best ways to do this might be to enshrine some general rights/principles in law (e.g., extending principles of fair use, freedom of speech etc).