Status: Going to use Firebase rather than GitHub Pages....
Next:
Hexo Blog/Placeholder (@Morgan) @ https://legalcode-69d91.firebaseapp.com/
The legalcode project seeks to address the issue of limited access to the laws of the State of Georgia. This issue is primarily based on the fact of the limited usability and incomplete access to the Georgia Code on the internet as it is served by LexisNexis under contract by the State of Georgia.
DID YOU KNOW ?
The only 'free' legal Code of Georgia viewable by regular citizens is not on any Government web domain accountable to citizen users needs but on a private domain operated by LexisNexis.
These limitations include the inability to download or copy the laws included on the website above that were passed by the House of Representatives of Georgia and paid for by taxpayers and should be consided off-limits to copyright.
The primary reason for this problem is that the annotations provided by a private company attached to the official code. These annotations are simultaneously considered the copyright of LexisNexis despite being the work product of public funds AND yet necessary to have an 'official' copy of the code to reference to meet all formal requirements.
As Carl Malamud puts it:
“to somehow say the annotations are separate — that you can have the sandwich for free but you have to buy the mayonnaise that’s already on it — is ridiculous.” (The State of Georgia later sued him for posting rasterized copies of the Official Code of Georgia online.)
-- Notes of various ideas discussed to address the issue that include technical and non-technical skills:
-
Create a front-end focused basic 'call to action' website to communicate the issue.
-
Creative ideas include:
- Storyboard/scroll visuals to depict the terrible policy of the current contract relationship with LexisNexis
- A handful of Interactive views with D3.js to explain in plain language why citizens are getting a crap deal with the pseudo-official free legislation website.
Notes:
- KISS (Keep it simple)... we might just use something like Jekyll or Hexo Blog to statically generate blog updates and customize 2-3 views instead of anything overboard if the content is the most important stuff
-
-
Using Madison Document Editor or other collaborative means to draft a HB or SB to address the issue possibly by:
- Limiting the copyright exercisable over the Official Annotated Code of Georgia by LexisNexis to support innovation and progress in the technical and legal sectors of Georgia.
- Excising existing annotations or blocking the creation of new Annotations to the Official Code
-
Making FOIA requests to the Clerks office in the Georgia State government about their relationship with LexisNexis && House of Representatives about this policy
-
Attempting to access the LexisNexis - GA House of Representatives Contract (may be private and subject to excuses from being FOIA'd)
-
FOIA'ing about correspondence about the issue RE the lawsuit against Carl Malamud and the views taken by elected members of the house about copyright of the OCGA
-
Connecting with a previous talk given by a local tech entrepreneur about this exact issue from 2015 (we aren't alone hah!)
-
Registering a company and bidding against LexisNexis for the contract to annotate the official Code (Ambitious...)
--