SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
If you want to read the official laws of the state of Georgia, it will cost you more than $1,000.
Open-records activist Carl Malamud bought a hard copy, and it cost him $1,207.02 after shipping and taxes. A copy on CD was $1,259.41. The "good" news for Georgia residents is that they'll only have to pay $385.94 to buy a printed set from LexisNexis.
Malamud thinks reading the law shouldn't cost anything. So a few years back, he scanned a copy of the state of Georgia's official laws, known as the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, or OCGA. Malamud made USB drives with two copies on them, one scanned copy and another encoded in XML format. On May 30, 2013, Malamud sent the USB drives to the Georgia speaker of the House, David Ralson, and the state's legislative counsel, as well as other prominent Georgia lawyers and policymakers.
"Access to the law is a fundamental aspect of our system of democracy, an essential element of due process, equal protection, and access to justice," said Malamud in the enclosed letter. The law, he reminded them, isn't copyrighted.
[...] Georgia lawmakers' response to Malamud's gifts was anything but peachy. "Your unlawful copying... Infringes on the exclusive copyright of the state of Georgia," read the response letter, written by the chairman of Georgia's Code Revision Commission, Josh McKoon. "Accordingly, you are hereby notified to CEASE AND DESIST ALL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT."
[...] Now, the case has concluded with US District Judge Richard Story having published an opinion (PDF) that sides with the state of Georgia. The judge disagreed with Malamud's argument that the OCGA can't be copyrighted and also said Malamud's copying of the laws is not fair use. "The Copyright Act itself specifically lists 'annotations' in the works entitled to copyright protection," writes Story. "Defendant admits that annotations in an unofficial code would be copyrightable."
(Score: 4, Informative) by archfeld on Saturday April 01 2017, @03:43AM (2 children)
A lifetime ago in a career far far away, I discovered the California penal code and the Health and Safety code of California were also copyrighted and quite expensive to acquire as I was forced to buy one of each during my time as a cadet at the police academy. I have never had trouble finding the same resources online published by the state but the fact that you were legally forbidden from printing or providing a copy to another person in any format is BS. Our county building codes are in the same boat, you can view them online but as a licensed contractor you are required to have a copy, you must pay quite a sum to purchase one. Not sure I've ever heard of the State of California pursuing legal action in the matter though.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday April 01 2017, @04:03AM (1 child)
One would sure think that being this law was enacted by public officials, paid for by public monies, it would be public.
One would also wonder why "ignorance of the law" is not excusable under these circumstances.
To me, yet another glaring example of the failure of representation by proxy.
Little by little the ones who control the making of law tweak it more and more into their favor, leaving the rest of us working the day and forfeiting the proceeds of our efforts to those who take by means of pen and handshake.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by archfeld on Saturday April 01 2017, @08:23PM
Not so sure it is a failure of representation by proxy as it is a symptom of allowing the corporations back into the picture. The original American revolution was as much against the corporate entities like the Boston Tea company, and other corporate bodies given charter by England as it was about the lack of representation in the government of England. The instant we gave corporations the rights of people our system of government began to fail quickly. If we could extricate the corporate money and ensure that corporations were ONLY represented by the citizens that made up the corporations things could probably still be salvaged. Corporation are extra-national now and represent only money in extremes that stretch beyond national boundaries. They have no loyalty beyond the next penny to be made and answer only to the profit of the almighty dollar.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge