State Censorship, Round Two

A while back, Oregon tried to prevent people from publishing state laws, claiming that the state held copyright to the material.  This claim was bogus from the start, as any laws enacted by any public agency clearly fall into public domain.  After a brief battle, the state gave it up as a lost cause.

Intelligent creatures have a common feature in their repertoire, which we refer to as "single-trial learning".  In general, when an intelligent animal screws up big-time, it will not repeat the mistake.  It learns from that single bad episode.

This, however, is Oregon: Things Look Different Here.  And while there may be many things that can be credited toward our officials, intelligence isn't among them.  Attorney General John Kroger is now attempting to claim copyright over the Attorney General's Public Record and Public Meeting Manual.

Amazing.  The manual is intended to provide assistance to state agencies, local governments and to the public generally.  But it's copyrighted, so you can't have it unless you purchase it from the state.  Wrong again!  It's a public agency publication.  It is no more subject to copyright protection that are Kroger's e-mails.

Why is it that Democrats always promise openness, transparency, and honesty?

Comments

[ZZMike]

Someone in my circle of bloggers noted recently that Caligula liked to write laws in small print at the top of building columns, so that people couldn't read them, making it a lot easier to arrest people he didn't like.

And they're right up there with Scientologists, who hold that their sacred writings are copyrighted.

[Max]

Cults depend upon secrecy. Public agencies, on the other hand, are supposed to be - well, public.