Red tape can be a divisive issue, but surely everyone agrees that governments must make an effort to publicise new rules.

Just a few weeks ago, legal experts warned that a new law demanding that companies add information to their emails and web sites – introduced while most UK citizens were on holiday – had gone unnoticed by the majority.

Now more under-publicised legislation is about to arrive and again there seems little warning for those affected. The new legislation is designed to close a “tax loophole” by curbing managed service or composite companies – a structure used by some contractors to band together. The change was announced in December, will be consulted on until March and will take affect from April.

The government insists this pace is in line with the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Consultation, but for affected freelancers and their customers, many of whom will have contracts running beyond 2007, this claim will offer little consolation.

The legislation itself may be reasonable, but the schedule is not. It betrays a lack of empathy for business people that goes a long way to explaining why many are not well disposed towards the government’s attempts at regulation.

Meanwhile, when it comes to law enforcement, even casual viewers of detective dramas will have learned that policemen no longer trample over crime scenes in size 10 boots – high-tech fine-toothed combs are the order of the day instead. This is equally true in the world of IT crime. Searching a warehouse is trivial compared with sifting through gigabytes of files on a crowded hard-drive.

In a world where criminals are quick to adapt to IT change, IT managers must be equally expert. Many seemingly innocuous slips in the aftermath of an online attack could hinder a criminal investigation, or worse, point the blame in the wrong direction.

The US Department of Justice’s new guidance document for high-tech law enforcement offers a good example of common-sense advice, and should be required reading for those charged with defending a corporate network.