Carl Malamud, in a typically brilliant aggressive posture, has posted the public safety codes incorporated by reference into the California state code.
This is a slightly different fight than the one he fought in Oregon, where copyright was being asserted over the law. State laws often incorporate other publications into law, by saying something like “the building codes, as published by ____ body, are hereby incorporated as law into the CA state code.”
This leaves citizens in the strange position of having to pay for legal information that is clearly in the public domain, by statutory fiat, despite originating in copyrighted publications.
Not one to mince words, Carl has collected the codes so referenced in the CA code, and posted then in a collection online, complete with partiotic music.
PublicResource.org watchers are just left to wonder… What’s next? We’ll be watching.
Update: It looks like I’m a bit behind, and the resource has now expanded to include state safety codes across the nation, all available through this central page.
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