I tend to agree with you, although it seems that the federal government did indeed grant "the right" (entitlement?) for an individual to obtain such information. A good reference page for FOIA is:
http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/oip.html I, personally, do not wish to see "every scrap of code I've [you've] ever written", just the good stuff, of course. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Woodhouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Hardhats" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 12:20 PM Subject: [Hardhats-members] I'm going to just say this... > For the record, I think the Freedom of Infomation Act (FOIA) is one of > the fundamental protections we enjoy in the U.S., and I wholeheartedly > endorse it. However, every time someone mentions a piece of software on > this list, it seems like someone is sure to ask (in seconds) whether it > is available through FOIA, and that always makes me cringe. FOIA is > meant to protect or civil rights. That's why it exists. But that's not > how it's being used or discussed on this list, is it? It's not an > entitlement, nor is it intended as a means to coerce others into > granting access to software they are developing. As a federal employee, > I resent that so many people seem to think they have (or shoul have) a > right to see every scrap of code I've ever written. Yes, I did choose > to work for the federal government, and yes I am glad that I did. I > want to think that the work I do makes a positive differencver in the > world, but I find all this talk of using FOIA as a legal weapon not > only galling (even a little predatory), but demeaning as well. > > > === > Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > "Without the requirement of mathematical aesthetics a great many discoveries would not have been made." > > -- Albert Einstein > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is sponsored by: > Tame your development challenges with Apache's Geronimo App Server. Download > it for free - -and be entered to win a 42" plasma tv or your very own > Sony(tm)PSP. Click here to play: http://sourceforge.net/geronimo.php > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tame your development challenges with Apache's Geronimo App Server. Download it for free - -and be entered to win a 42" plasma tv or your very own Sony(tm)PSP. Click here to play: http://sourceforge.net/geronimo.php _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
