On Dec 9, 2010, at 3:01 PM, [email protected] wrote: > the problem with this is that even though the data has been leaked, that > doesn't mean that it's public domain data. Hosting the data and passing it > on is (or at least has the flavor of) 'trafficing in stolden merchandise' > > What makes leaded data 'Ok' to host and pass on, but unauthorized copies > of commercial software, books, music, etc 'Piracy'?
Well, under US copyright law there is no copyright on works "prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. government as part of that person's official duties". Whereas the other items you mentioned are pretty much all covered by various Copyright statutes, treaties, conventions, etc which is why unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material is called "piracy". Now unauthorized distribution of confidential US Government documents may be subject to other laws (though presumably only US laws, but IINAL). However, the Pentagon Papers case (New York Times Co. vs. United States) seemed to make it relatively clear that once confidential information is out in public the First Amendment prevails. Note that, according to Wikipedia: "Although the entire Pentagon Papers study has been published by various sources starting with the Times in 1971 and ending with the National Security Archive in 2002, the work remains classified." Which tells you something about the nature of both classified documents and the First Amendment. Arthur Gaer [email protected] Senior Systems Manager Harvard University Department of Mathematics 1 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-1610 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
