The right to read is the right to mine: Text and data mining copyright exceptions introduced in the UK.

New copyright exceptions to text and data mining for non-commercial research have recently come into effect and this is welcome news for UK researchers and research, argues Ross Mounce. Here he provides a brief overview of the past issues discouraging text and data mining and the what the future holds now that these exceptions have been introduced. But despite legal barriers being removed, many technical barriers still remain. Furthermore it remains to be decided what formally constitutes ‘non-commercial’ research.