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This "license" is not enough, as it only allows for READING files - you will NOT be allowed to create a Free Software program that can WRITE the files.

So, while you may be able to open such a file in OpenOffice, you will not be able to save your changes back.

Everybody who cares about this issue should go to the Mass. feedback page for this, and write a coherent message of protest using proper English grammer and spelling.

texas law

alaska code

findlaw's link to various state codes so you can check for yourself.

MA law is vague

Uhh.. Massachusetts already has an online searchable sex offender registry. I think it is perfectly appropriate for people convicted of certain crimes that have a high recidivism rate (and a high potential for a repeat offense having a severe impact on others) to be required to meet certain conditions after their release.

The President of the Senate is actually Vice President Dick Chaney. Robert Travaglini is currently the President of the Mass State Senate.

M.G.L 272, Section 99 (sorry if the format is wrong, don't have my bluebook handy)

[Statute]
Definitions
1. The term "wire communication" means any communication made in whole or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the point of origin and the point of reception.

2. The term "oral communication" means speech, except such speech as is transmitted over the public air waves by radio or other similar device.

3. The term "intercepting device" means any device or apparatus which is capable of transmitting, receiving, amplifying, or recording a wire or oral communication other than a hearing aid or similar device which is being used to correct subnormal hearing to normal and other than any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, facility, or a component thereof...

[snip/]

Prohibitions
Except as otherwise specifically provided in this section any person who--

willfully commits an interception, attempts to commit an interception, or procures any other person to commit an interception or to attempt to commit an interception of any wire or oral communication shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the state prison for not more than five years, or imprisoned in a jail or house of correction for not more than two and one half years, or both so fined and given one such imprisonment.

Proof of the installation of any intercepting device by any person under circumstances evincing an intent to commit an interception, which is not authorized or permitted by this section, shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this subparagraph.

[/Statute]

So it's any conversation capturing device when that conversation occurs over a wire (and it covers just recording a street conversation between you and I). MA, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington are all multiparty consent states where everyone potentially being recorded must consent. If I were the counsel opposing the recorder, I would definitely argue their communications are both oral and coming over a wire. For IM, you could even make the wire case there as well.

-truth

I don't know who the "appropriate representative" is. This department (the source in the article) seems like a good place to start.

Eric Kriss, Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance
Department home page: http://www.mass.gov/eoaf/
Contact info:
Executive Office for Administration & Finance
State House, Room 373
Boston MA, 02133
Phone (617) 727-2040
Fax (617) 727-2779
e-mail contactanf@state.ma.us

I suspect that a flood of email will be ignored.

The more clear, concise arguments to give to the good secretary that are posted on this thread, the easier it will be to reason with the department.

Check out the budgets. Look at their spending and objectives. If an objective states, "Identify possibilities for increased efficiences in information technlogy," there you go.

If all their documents are in Microsoft formats, draw their attention to Commonwealth of Massachusetts open standards policy and how open formats are helpful.

If you can find they are violating a their own policies regarding document storage or accessibility, mention that.

Check out the budgets. Look at their spending and objectives. If an objective states, "Identify possibilities for increased efficiences in information technlogy," there you go.

If all their documents are in Microsoft formats, draw their attention to Commonwealth of Massachusetts open standards policy and how open formats are helpful.

If you can find they are violating a their own policies regarding document storage or accessibility, mention that.

Unfortunately most drivers don't pay attention to this law despite the state spending lots of money for signs reminding them.

America is fifty states, united into a federation.

No it isn't. The word "state" is misused throughout the USA. Traditionally, "state" is a synonym for "nation", but in the USA it is a synonym for "district" or "province".

Even back in 1780 it was really one nation-state, and by 1860 the total unification was undeniably demonstrated.

If I murder my neighbor, it is the State of Minnesota, not the US, which throws me in prison.

So when you move from Minneapolis to Chicago, you first apply with the Illinois department of immigration. They check your employment history and give you a green card, which lets you apply for Illinois citizenship in 3 years?

Sorry, I don't think so. Citizenship is on a per-nation basis. Just because your "state" (district) has its own laws doesn't make it a separte country, any more than a town's dog-leash regulation make it a country. "Governor" is not the title of a head of state; "President" is.

The European Union really works the way you claim the USA does. Notice that in the recent Iraq invasion, it wasn't the EU that declared support for the operation, but individual countries within it. But from the American front, Massachusetts soldiers went in alongside Texas ones, under a single authority.

PS. Also, Massachusetts isn't even called a state.

Think I found it.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/history/s02464.htm

Which is a revised version of:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/history/s00177.htm

Sounds like it's gone to the Steering committee. Guess it hasn't been passed yet...

Think I found it.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/history/s02464.htm

Which is a revised version of:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/history/s00177.htm

Sounds like it's gone to the Steering committee. Guess it hasn't been passed yet...

And, in fact, the original design would split in half without warning. The remedy was to install a steel collar around the entire ship. So much for quality. Very few people talk about quality, or lack thereof, in the Liberty Ships, but as the other poster noted the quality was not necessary to achieve the ships' intended purpose.

Kris

According to the Massachusetts sentencing guidelines (all i could find)

Assult or vandalism even for someone with a serious previous record will get you 1 year maximum and if you have no previous record you'll get off with no time at all! Infact you can go much higher, unarmed robbery horay!

Now lets see, for a 10 year second offence camcorder violator.. you could for the same sentence have got your self a lovely new voluntary manslaughter or even better: rape of a child with force! YES! the MPAA considers their work so important that two camcorder recordings of their films are as bad as raping a child! well that settles it, i think it should be the electric chair the 3rd time!

I'm amazed at the number of people that think this. It's simply not true. In most (all?) states you've got laws of fitness and merchantability which specifically address this. For Massachusetts, at least, See MGL - Chapter 106, especially sections 2-314 & 2-315. Also note section 2-316: For consumer goods sales in particular, a store cannot even expressly exclude these warrenties.

Now realize that none of this means you can just waltz in to a store and return anything you want on a whim, but it does mean that a store can NOT simply sell you a peice of shit and walk away.

It's worth noting that, although Romney's push for Open Source is admirable, there are places it's been taken much too far - particularly, there are existing, perfectly-working systems that he and the CIO are tearing up in the name of Open Source. Big waste of cash.

The ITD website has some really kewl stuff on it like a legal toolkit for using Open Source software. Press releases on the sit seem to indicate that Republican Governer Mitt Romney is behind the move to open source. He'll be getting my vote when he runs for re-election.

Hey, if you live in Mass, write your state representative already! Barely anyone does, so they'll probably even listen to you! I'm going to dump some information I found on the Mass.gov site, and you can use it to find your reps and write them.

First of all, I believe the matter under discussion is House 1622, Petition of Ronald Mariano relative to the interpretation of computer information agreement contracts. Though as you can see from the JCCL homepage, there's lots to choose from and I'm not shocked they didn't act at the hearing on June 2.

If you don't know who to write to, visit the Who are my elected officials? page and type in your addres. And be sure to pick the STATE reps, as they're listed alongside your US reps in a way that's less-than-clear (to me anyway).

I haven't cooked up a boilerplate letter or anything... I figure I'll just synthesize something from this article and the EFF page regarding UCITA. If anyone is more familiar than me with the Mass state legislature, and can let me know if House 1622 is actually what we want, please get in touch.

You can also view the time line of Massachusett's involvment in the antitrust trial.

Good luck navigating our Attorney General's website - the information may be there, but it's hard to find.

On a completely unrelated tangent, the Massachusetts Government Portal runs on a Netscape Enterprise Server under Solaris 8. Apparently they've had over a year of uptime, after switching away from IIS. (With a brief transition to Apache.) Apparently this isn't the first time the state has moved away from Microsoft.

I only mention this as I was a student at the above and silent password logging TSRs were rampant on their network.

Oh yeah, and their entire collection of staff/student mailboxes and the mailspool were made available via an anonymous read/write network share if you knew enough about Novell Netware to manually map a drive.

To clarify, Boston (in Massachusetts, United States) was named after Boston (in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom) - more information can be found here.

My iPaq is set to remind me to sign up.

-S

My iPaq is set to remind me to sign up.

-S

(The relevant part of the page is under "News & Updates" on the left.)