Comments on: and while we're at it

By: Kevin Sutherland

Kevin Sutherland — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:02:15 +0000

Maybe they have changed their policy since this post, but right now the Change.gov homepage has a link to their Copyright Policy, which explains it is CC-licensed unless otherwise noted.

http://change.gov/about/copyright_policy

By: Rick

Rick — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:28:39 +0000

and while they're at it....
Look, I'm all for change, couldn't fathom a vote for McCain, and have no clue why some 47% of the populace did vote for him but....
Now we have the Obama commemorative coins from New England Mint. The TV ad is in classic Ronco "as seen on TV" style and offers two gold plated coins with smiley-face Obama on them for $9.99 + S&H ($29.99 value!!) The fine print disavows, of course, any relationship to the US Mint or the Obama Inauguration Committee. The offer is only available for about sixty days so better hurry!!
Then there are the commemorative plates. You know: the ones you stand up on a little holder in your china cabinet. A bit pricier but, as the young black couple tells us in the TV ad, we can hardly miss this opportunity to personally own a sure-to-be-priceless souvenir of this historic moment. Better hurry: these are limited editions with only sixty-five firing days left!
I did consider getting the plate as a Christmas gift for my ultra-conservative brother-in-law but apart from the appeal to my twisted sense of humor I find these offers utterly tasteless (at best). SOMEONE seems to be cashing in on newfound fame, and sales will likely come almost exclusively from middle and lower income (if not downright poor) black families who feel duty-bound to own this stuff.
Shameless. Disappointingly shameless.

By: john edwin

john edwin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:45:36 +0000

Schmidt, who was one of the president-elect’s most high-profile supporters, was in Chicago Friday as part of Obama’s 17-person economic transition economic advisory board. The group met to discuss how to deal with the ongoing financial crisis.
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john edwin
online football betting tips, odds, news

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:51:49 +0000

I wrote them and asked what was up. Be curious to see if they will actually respond.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:04:16 +0000

It would be interesting to see the authoritative texts about government's work and copyright. The quote mentions that copyright restrictions are not applicable in the United States, while a public website on the internet is accessible worldwide (playing along as the devil's advocate here).

Interestingly enough, the change.gov website does not explicitly state who the copyright owners are. If being an American tax payer equates to being a copyright holder on the government's work, then change.gov's copyright notice does not restrict usages by Americans.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:07:04 +0000

The copyright notices are actually even more unfortunate... On the job application system, the notice reads, "data copyright © 2008 The Obama-Biden Transition Project all rights reserved ." Copyrighting data? Oh dear...

I suspect though that this is probably a product of oversight and not policy. (Which is why they should hire me to help them...)

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:22:16 +0000

Eric: The campaign had a fairly specific policy for open government, associated with its tech platform. So, while prodding for the right thing is always good and recommended, I still expect that the actual admin will proceed in this direction naturally. It always helps to have a mobilized constituency calling for the right thing, because it provides political cover for the admin, as well as helping keep their attention on the issue. But my expectation is that there will not be so much push-back from the admin, and less inclination to go in the wrong direction to begin with.

In the end, what the transition does in this regard is probably not very important, in and of itself. What the admin does is important, but I'm not sure that this example in the transition transfers to the admin. The transition is intrinsically time-limited and domain-limited.

As for absolute copyright abolitionism, even Lessig doesn't concur with that (as evidenced yet again in his Charlie Rose interview), and I concur with him in that regard.

By: Chris Messina

Chris Messina — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:20:40 +0000

That is indeed interesting. We'll have to watch what the footer says after Jan 20.

If it is/were an after-thought, that speaks to the kind of awareness-building opportunity we have.

By: Crosbie Fitch

Crosbie Fitch — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:59:10 +0000

That's a good idea Rick.

It would be interesting to see a representative of the people maintain that copyright's suspension of the people's liberty is in their best interest.

NB The government should secure the people's exclusive rights to their writings and inventions, but should not grant monopolies to publishers or corporations that necessitate suspending the people's liberty or invading their privacy.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:22:48 +0000

Perhaps, Lessig, you should propose to use certain materials from the change.gov site for an upcoming presentation and seek "authorized use." While the sites' reservation of rights is, no doubt, standard boilerplate it might be interesting to learn what entity alleges ownership and who is charged with representing the "owner(s)." Further, it takes this discussion out of the "lefty rumbling" category and makes it a real-time issue.

BTW: Great stuff on the Charlie Rose show.

BTW2: Whoever "thunk up" the CC angle on the YT videos in your previous blog gets my recommendation for the (hoped for) new cabinet post, "Secretary of Commons". Perhaps we can extend that to the (more hoped-for and dredfully needed), "Secretary of Common Sense."