Immutable Security

To the best of my knowledge (and I am not an expert), material produced by the government, (with certain exceptions) with taxpayer money is in the public domain. As well it should be. If we paid to produce it, it makes sense that we should have access to it. Public domain material is truly free. It is not copyrighted. It’s accessible to anyone for any reason to do anything they want with it. You can copy it, re-use it, make it into other works and make nice bird houses out of it.

Bill Harbaugh, Professor of Economics at the University of Oregon has challenged the Oregon Attorney General by posting the “Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual” online, in direct defiance of a warning from the AG.

The AG believes this is copyrighted material, despite his public position and despite that this is a guide which explains how one can access various public records. That’s an understandable position for the Oregon AG to take since they sell it for $25.

Today, I applaud Bill Harbaugh. This guy has a set. We need more people, and especially more well-educated and respected people to draw a line in the stand against abuse of copyright law. Remember, copyright law (at least in the U.S.) was designed to ensure a balance of rights between the creator and the recipient. It is not designed to give the creator absolute rights. At least in this case, it doesn’t even appear that copyright law should apply. It seems clear that this document should be in the public domain.

Way to go, Professor Harbaugh!