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Smolian re public records (NYT op ed)



I received these comments off list from Steve Smolian after my recent posting and am passing them along to the list as a whole, as I have his permission to forward them to the List.  The following represents Mr. Smolian's views:
"Subj: Re: NYT on public records controversies
Date: 2/24/2002 11:34:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
From:    smolians@erols.com (Steven Smolian)
To:    Maarja@AOL.COM
"The issue you raise often comes up when I do professional appraisals of sound recordings.  It was at the heart of the "how much are his tapes worth" Nixon case, in which I was involved.


The questions are really, "who paid for the documents?"  and "what law was in force at the time they were created?"

The general rule is that they belong to the public since they were created with taxpayer money, at least at the federal level.  These rights are often restricted for a given period, depending on the laws and, possibly, regulations in force when the documents were created, depending on which branch of government created those regulations.  

Much of the confusion surrounding this and other copyright and dissemination of information issues is centered on the public perception of the phrase in the constitution forbidding new laws that are applied to events previous to the passage of those laws- the "ex post facto" clause.  
  
We, the public, therefore think that all documentary materials not excluded by laws in place at the time the papers, etc., were created, should be accessible by the public.  I fail to see how, if this is true, that state or city documents are exempt from the US Constitution.  If this is not the case, then I share this confusion.

Steven Smolian
301-694-5134
Smolian Sound Studios"