History Teaches - June 8

[azmouse]

June 8, 1945: Executive Order 9568

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
- Harry S. Truman

In an effort to stimulate American industry following the end of WWII, Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9568. This order permitted the release of previously classified scientific information about medicines and communication technology developed during the war. The private sector was given the material only after a review board deemed it safe to release.

This was done in response to a growing movement among Americans to know more about what their government was doing. This Executive Order eventually lead to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, allowing Americans to request information about federal agencies from the government.

 

[RoyGBiv]

And today, companies who make scientific and technological advances -- often some of the very same companies who benefited from this -- do everything they can to hide it, patent it, and prevent anyone and everyone from using it or even knowing about it.

I agree wholeheartedly with Truman's decision here. I hate that the spirit of the EO has not been followed by anyone since except for government entities.

Yet, for some reason, corporations think government is bad.

[NJMaverick]

We should try something like this again

[RoyGBiv]

(06-08-2011 09:21 AM)NJMaverick Wrote:  We should try something like this again

Well, that'd be great, but it would require funding and a complete reconceptualization of patent law.

Colleges and universities already publish their research, but even they are attempting to get into the patent game so they can bring their individual universities more dollars.

We've overdeveloped the concept of ownership of intangible things.

Which reminds me of a related tangent. This morning I've been watching a guy on Twitter freaking right the hell out because a open source software package has "stolen" an icon he made, or at least this is what he says. He put up pictures. It's an icon of an envelope. Just looks like a damn envelope, and, yeah, they're similar. Not exact, but similar. Envelopes don't vary a lot. But, the guy says, it was HIS idea to use an icon of an envelope to indicate sending a message in a certain kind of software client.

I hate people like this.

[nofurylike]

that is great, azmouse!
we need that even more today! how could that be?

thank you for posting this!