Lessig Launches Open Transition Principles 129
soDean writes "The Principles for an Open Transition and a petition were co-launched by Lawrence Lessig, Mozilla, and the Participatory Culture Foundation today. This was in reaction to the announcement that Obama would be posting his transition videos to YouTube.
The petition encourages Obama to publish his transition videos with open licenses, make them available for download, and preferably use royalty free/open video formats and standards. Unless YouTube makes some radical changes, the videos will need to be hosted elsewhere."
Stupid... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm also fairly certain that copyrightable material produced by the federal government of the United States is automatically public domain and could not be placed under a more restrictive license such as any copyleft. The office of the president elect is under the purview of the General Services Administration, and I imagine would be under similar requirements.
Principle of the thing (Score:2, Interesting)
The weekly videos are a step in the right direction. But I was hoping to see more frequent communications from a variety of different faces on the transition team, talking about their progress and the work they're doing.
I just want to see open and honest government, and a three minute communique every week doesn't really do that for me. I liked the press conference Monday, but I feel like I want to be able to see more. I want my government to finally be accountable!
Re:This just irks me (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, maybe not necessarily [kansascity.com], and I can't find the links now, but, I thought I'd read weeks ago, that Justice Souter had requested a copy of the real Birth Certificate for Obama, and not just a certificate of live birth (apparently there is a difference).
Man...talk about interesting if somehow Obama was ruled to not be natural born in the US. What would happen? New election, or would the Electoral college vote between McCain and Biden?
I doubt anything will come of it...but, if people on the SCOTUS are looking into it...it is worth noting.
One thing Bush got right... (Score:2, Interesting)
One thing that G W Bush got right is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss [whitehouse.gov] you can download thousands of speeches by G W Bush.
I hope EVERY talk Obama gives will be posted. History deserves this record, and the noise media will do everything they can to prevent it. (recall the copyright suits over "The Prise.")
Andy