Quote:
Originally Posted by puckhog
From Thomas R Karl (witholding data) :
If their research is being funded in any part by government, their results and findings are part of the public domain. Trying to stop someone from getting their hands on the data simply because they're a pest is not okay.
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I am by no means a copyright expert, but I believe this is not true. In Canada, government works are covered by Crown Copyright. They are not public domain. In the US, works created by government officials as part of their normal duties are in the public domain. Works created by contractors are not automatically so. So even if the American government is funding any part of this, it is not necessarily public domain.
How FOIA and equivalents are affected is beyond my knowledge.
FWIW, the Daily Telegraph in the UK discusses the lack of mainstream media coverage of this:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ja...odern-science/