For years, we've covered the efforts of rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) to make the law free for all to read, from liberating paywalled court records from PACER to risking fines and even prison to make standards that have been incorporated into regulation available, to his longrunning fight with the State of Georgia to make the state's annotated legal code public, which may be headed for the Supreme Court. Read the rest

For years we have chronicled the tireless fight of rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) whose Public.Resource.org has devoted itself to publishing the world's laws, for free, where anyone can see and share them. Read the rest

For years, rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) has battled for the right to publish the law online in freely readable and shareable formats, through his activist group Public Resource. Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "In keeping with best practices for major Internet providers to issue periodic transparency reports, Public Resource would like to issue two reports. Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "As a so-called rogue archivist, I'm not often the bearer of good news, so I thought folks might be cheered by 3 very positive developments on the open standards front." Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "Like many of my fellow nonprofit executives, the holidays are a mixed bag for me. Public Resource has enough money in the bank to get us through January. Like other nonprofits, Public Resource gets almost all our yearly contributions over the holidays. So, it's nail-biting time while I watch the gas tank get down to fumes." Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "As many of you may remember, the State of Georgia filed charges against Public Resource complete with a scurrilous and unfounded charge that we engaged in a "strategy of terrorism." I am pleased to announce that we are represented pro bono by Alston and Bird, one of the leading law firms in Georgia. Our legal team filed an answer to the Georgia complaint and we counter-sued, denying their over-the-top characterization as 'bizarre, defamatory and gratuitous allegations.'" Read the rest

The State of Georgia claims that its statutes are a copyrighted work, and that rogue archivist Carl Malamud and public.resource.org committed an act of piracy by making the laws of Georgia free for all to see and copy. Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "Public.Resource.Org is pleased to announce the launch of the 2014 Official Summer of Code!

We've selected 3 states -- Georgia, Idaho, and Mississippi -- and are raising funds to have the Official Legal Codes sent down to the Internet Archive to be scanned and made available to all. Your tax-deductible contribution can help make the law available to the people! Find out more at: YesWeScan.Org/ Read the rest

SFGate: "A San Mateo County judge allowed a wealthy oceanfront property owner [the beloved venture capitalist Vinod Khosla] to block public access to a beach that has been enjoyed for at least a century by fishermen, tourists, sunbathers, families and surfers. Superior Court Judge Gerald Buchwald ruled Thursday that a billionaire landowner can legally block the only road into the sandy Half Moon Bay haven known as Martins Beach." (Thanks, Matthew!) Read the rest

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud sez,

Public.Resource.Org today released 10,062 public safety documents covering 24 countries and 6 regions, including the European Union. The release is documented in a README file and accompanied by 12 tables of supporting documentation.

Some of these standards were obtained directly from the web sites of national standards bodies, such as Ecuador and Thailand which make their standards freely available. A couple thousand were scraped from the World Trade Organization web site, which maintains a repository of mandatory notifications made by member countries. We spent $180,410.73 to obtain the rest of the documents, such as the mandatory building code of Europe, the Eurocode.

These standards were published in order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them.

This law is your law. Enjoy!

Twelve Tables of Codes

(Thanks, Carl!) Read the rest