City Laws Only Available Via $200 License

MrLint writes "The City of Schenectady has decided that their laws are copyrighted, and that you cannot know them without paying for an 'exclusive license' for $200. This is not a first — Oregon has claimed publishing of laws online is a copyright violation." This case is nuanced. The city has contracted with a private company to convert and encode its laws so they can be made available on the Web for free. While the company works on this project, it considers the electronic versions of the laws its property and offers a CD version, bundled with its software, for $200. The man who requested a copy of the laws plans to appeal.

Comments

Re:New form of taxes!

[Seedy2]

The guilty know they are guilty and the ones that walk on technicalities do so because they plan for the eventuality, or pay someone to. The innocent don't have the luxury of planning in advance to beat the wrap for a crime they didn't commit. So the system is broken both in that the guilty walk, and that the innocent do not.