The US government (military) has published many technical manuals. All
of them are produced with taxpayer money and are in public
domain. Most of those are not secret and are generally available to
the public.
Unfortunately, as they go, many are hard to find and there is a
cottage industry of CDROM sellers and spammy websites that charge
money for PDF copies of those manuals.
Needing one manual or another from time to time, I appreciate how
difficult it has become to find a genuine manual for a free and easy download.
I would like to change all of this, and offer them all on my website, completely for free, and provide a BitTorrent download to get them
all, so they could be reposted elsewhere amd become more available to
the general public.
I looked at a few "Sets of manuals on DVDs" that are offered for sale,
and saw the following statement:
``As we are the sole creators, manufacturers and distributors of this
product we hold legal copyright to the product and its
contents. Products are produced in-house using state of the art
duplication techniques and conforms and is in compliance with any and
all policies that may apply regarding the sale of media on recordable
formats and buyers may not reproduce, copy or resell under any
circumstances as materials are watermarked and protected. Some manuals
may not include covers. THE ULTIMATE ARMY TECHNICAL MANUALS DISK SET
IS COPYRIGHTED 1993-2010 WWW.<DVD SELLER STORE>.COM. NO SALES TO
DEALERS OR SELLERS.''
I would like to know how can they claim to hold "legal copyright" to documents that are in public domain.
Secondly, if I purchase a set from them, can they rely on contract
theory to prohibit me from reproducing their manuals? As in, could
they say that by purchasing the item, I agreed to their terms, and not
allow me to publish them online?
Thirdly, if the contract theory can be used to prohibit me from
reoffering their content, can I have someone else buy the set, and
then give it to me as a gift, with no strings attached?
Again, I am not looking to resell a DVD set that I purchase from
someone. I intend to distribute those public domain manuals for free
online.
I do have money and if, say, I am forced to spend $20k on lawyers, it
would be disappointing to me, but it will not lead me to financial
ruin.
i
On Monday, January 3, 2011 at 9:11:23 AM UTC-5, Ignoramus7361
wrote:
The US government (military) has published many technical
manuals. All of them are produced with taxpayer money and are in
public domain. Most of those are not secret and are generally
available to the public.
Unfortunately, as they go, many are hard to find and there is a
cottage industry of CDROM sellers and spammy websites that charge
money for PDF copies of those manuals.
Needing one manual or another from time to time, I appreciate how
difficult it has become to find a genuine manual for a free and
easy download.
I would like to change all of this, and offer them all on my
website, completely for free, and provide a BitTorrent download
to get them all, so they could be reposted elsewhere amd become
more available to the general public.
I looked at a few "Sets of manuals on DVDs" that are offered for
sale, and saw the following statement:
``As we are the sole creators, manufacturers and distributors of
this product we hold legal copyright to the product and its
contents. Products are produced in-house using state of the art
duplication techniques and conforms and is in compliance with any
and all policies that may apply regarding the sale of media on
recordable formats and buyers may not reproduce, copy or resell
under any circumstances as materials are watermarked and
protected. Some manuals may not include covers. THE ULTIMATE ARMY
TECHNICAL MANUALS DISK SET IS COPYRIGHTED 1993-2010 WWW.<DVD
SELLER STORE>.COM. NO SALES TO DEALERS OR SELLERS.''
I would like to know how can they claim to hold "legal copyright"
to documents that are in public domain.
Secondly, if I purchase a set from them, can they rely on
contract theory to prohibit me from reproducing their manuals? As
in, could they say that by purchasing the item, I agreed to their
terms, and not allow me to publish them online?
Thirdly, if the contract theory can be used to prohibit me from
reoffering their content, can I have someone else buy the set,
and then give it to me as a gift, with no strings attached?
Again, I am not looking to resell a DVD set that I purchase from
someone. I intend to distribute those public domain manuals for
free online.
I do have money and if, say, I am forced to spend $20k on
lawyers, it would be disappointing to me, but it will not lead me
to financial ruin.
I bought class room training manuals from 1941, training American
soldiers to speak Japanese, so their could communicate. I think it
was 11 books in total, I think I paid $10.00 each. I am a junk
journalist, I tear about old books and repurpose. (I know, don't
yell at me) Holly
Holly Dawson James <hldawson3@gmail.com> wrote:
On Monday, January 3, 2011 at 9:11:23 AM UTC-5, Ignoramus7361
wrote:
The US government (military) has published many technical
manuals. All of them are produced with taxpayer money and are in
public domain. Most of those are not secret and are generally
available to the public.
Unfortunately, as they go, many are hard to find and there is a
cottage industry of CDROM sellers and spammy websites that charge
money for PDF copies of those manuals.
Needing one manual or another from time to time, I appreciate how
difficult it has become to find a genuine manual for a free and
easy download.
I would like to change all of this, and offer them all on my
website, completely for free, and provide a BitTorrent download
to get them all, so they could be reposted elsewhere amd become
more available to the general public.
I looked at a few "Sets of manuals on DVDs" that are offered for
sale, and saw the following statement:
``As we are the sole creators, manufacturers and distributors of
this product we hold legal copyright to the product and its
contents. Products are produced in-house using state of the art
duplication techniques and conforms and is in compliance with any
and all policies that may apply regarding the sale of media on
recordable formats and buyers may not reproduce, copy or resell
under any circumstances as materials are watermarked and
protected. Some manuals may not include covers. THE ULTIMATE ARMY
TECHNICAL MANUALS DISK SET IS COPYRIGHTED 1993-2010 WWW.<DVD
SELLER STORE>.COM. NO SALES TO DEALERS OR SELLERS.''
I would like to know how can they claim to hold "legal copyright"
to documents that are in public domain.
Secondly, if I purchase a set from them, can they rely on
contract theory to prohibit me from reproducing their manuals? As
in, could they say that by purchasing the item, I agreed to their
terms, and not allow me to publish them online?
Thirdly, if the contract theory can be used to prohibit me from
reoffering their content, can I have someone else buy the set,
and then give it to me as a gift, with no strings attached?
Again, I am not looking to resell a DVD set that I purchase from
someone. I intend to distribute those public domain manuals for
free online.
I do have money and if, say, I am forced to spend $20k on
lawyers, it would be disappointing to me, but it will not lead me
to financial ruin.
I bought class room training manuals from 1941, training American
soldiers to speak Japanese, so their could communicate. I think it
was 11 books in total, I think I paid $10.00 each. I am a junk
journalist, I tear about old books and repurpose. (I know, don't
yell at me) Holly
First, US government publications are not free. If you go to a US
government bookstore in real life or on line, you pay for those
publications. And they are not cheap.
Next, someone can republish a book that is in the public domain and
claim to copyright it. But the copyright only applies to new
material that was added, such as a table or contents or index. They
can't protect material that was in the public domain.
First, US government publications are not free. If you go to a US
government bookstore in real life or on line, you pay for those
publications. And they are not cheap.
Next, someone can republish a book that is in the public domain and
claim to copyright it. But the copyright only applies to new
material that was added, such as a table or contents or index. They
can't protect material that was in the public domain.
The strangest example occurred a few years later when the government published a report on Obscenity and Pornography. I don't recall the price, but it was about the size of the Warren Report - something like 650 or 700 pages. The book was all text and was a summary of the findings on the Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. Inevitably, a
company
came along and published what they called the Illustrated Report on
Obscenity and Pornography (or something like that), and it had the exact
text of the government report but with actual pictures to show examples of pornography. At the time it came out, many people thought the book itself was an example of pornography, but I'm pretty sure it's still in print
today
and can be found on eBay and Amazon. Point is, it's another example of taking a public domain document and adding an external element.
AFAIK, all materials published by the US Government,and everything
produced as a work made for hire for the US Government, is in the
public domain. (Classified material excepted)
On 1/23/2023 2:59 PM, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:
First, US government publications are not free. If you go to a US
government bookstore in real life or on line, you pay for those
publications. And they are not cheap.
Next, someone can republish a book that is in the public domain and
claim to copyright it. But the copyright only applies to new
material that was added, such as a table or contents or index. They
can't protect material that was in the public domain.
Yes, because the Government Printing Office wants to recoup the cost of printing it, plus a profit to keep the GPO in business.
AFAIK, all materials published by the US Government,and everything
produced as a work made for hire for the US Government, is in the public domain. (Classified material excepted)
On 1/26/2023 10:17 PM, Barry Gold wrote:
On 1/23/2023 2:59 PM, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:
First, US government publications are not free. If you go to a US
government bookstore in real life or on line, you pay for those
publications. And they are not cheap.
Next, someone can republish a book that is in the public domain and
claim to copyright it. But the copyright only applies to new
material that was added, such as a table or contents or index. They
can't protect material that was in the public domain.
Yes, because the Government Printing Office wants to recoup the cost
of printing it, plus a profit to keep the GPO in business.
AFAIK, all materials published by the US Government,and everything
produced as a work made for hire for the US Government, is in the
public domain. (Classified material excepted)
AFAIK, classified material is in the public domain. However the distribution and possession is restricted as needed. I have a FOIA
request now for a book I wrote fifty years ago while in the military.
The SECRET classification should be expiring this year.
On 1/27/2023 1:26 PM, Roy wrote:
On 1/26/2023 10:17 PM, Barry Gold wrote:
On 1/23/2023 2:59 PM, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:AFAIK, classified material is in the public domain. However the
First, US government publications are not free. If you go to a US
government bookstore in real life or on line, you pay for those
publications. And they are not cheap.
Next, someone can republish a book that is in the public domain and
claim to copyright it. But the copyright only applies to new
material that was added, such as a table or contents or index. They
can't protect material that was in the public domain.
Yes, because the Government Printing Office wants to recoup the cost
of printing it, plus a profit to keep the GPO in business.
AFAIK, all materials published by the US Government,and everything
produced as a work made for hire for the US Government, is in the
public domain. (Classified material excepted)
distribution and possession is restricted as needed. I have a FOIA
request now for a book I wrote fifty years ago while in the military.
The SECRET classification should be expiring this year.
Interesting side note. My father was a radar technician in WWII. He
somehow came home with a couple of the training manuals from radar
school. They were marked "British: Secret, US: Confidential". Acto my
father, there was a rule that enlisted men could not have Secret
clearances, so the manuals had to have a lower classification in the US.
I read them. There was nothing in them that you wouldn't find in the
ARRL publications: Ohm's law, calculating impedance for capacitors and inductors, Kirchhoff's circuit laws.
The only reason I can think of for classifying them is that they may
have had the word "RADAR".
Barry Gold <bgold@labcats.org> wrote:
AFAIK, all materials published by the US Government,and everything
produced as a work made for hire for the US Government, is in the
public domain. (Classified material excepted)
Right. But that is not the same in at least other countries with
respect to publications issued by their governments.
On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 22:31:03 -0800, Barry Gold wrote:
...
Interesting side note. My father was a radar technician in WWII. He
somehow came home with a couple of the training manuals from radar
school. They were marked "British: Secret, US: Confidential". Acto my
father, there was a rule that enlisted men could not have Secret
clearances, so the manuals had to have a lower classification in the US.
I read them. There was nothing in them that you wouldn't find in the
ARRL publications: Ohm's law, calculating impedance for capacitors and
inductors, Kirchhoff's circuit laws.
The only reason I can think of for classifying them is that they may
have had the word "RADAR".
It's hard to hide the science. Most deadly app tech is more about the engineering.
I still await a test of the doctrine of "natural born secret" - which
seems a peculiar US concept. But then this is the country that managed to make a number illegal ...
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