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We are almost at 2016. Shouldn't something as important as this be maintained under version control, available for free for everyone in easy formats, updated as
by vijayr 11y ago
We are almost at 2016. Shouldn't something as important as this be maintained under version control, available for free for everyone in easy formats, updated as frequently as needed, with a proper API etc?
- hga 11y agoSurely you jest. Probably the most chilling thing about the book Gun Laws of America, Every Federal Gun Law on the Books (http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Laws-America-6th-Edition/dp/1889632244 http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Laws-America-6th-Edition/dp/188963...) is how many of the ones restricting the government or are otherwise favorable to gun owners were somehow never incorporated into the U.S. Code. In the last "Statutes at Large" chapter of the 5th edition are 28 items, each from a separate bill that was passed. Note that on its face, not incorporating all the language of bills into the U.S. code is frequently reasonable, e.g. N words that result in changing "10 years" into "15 years". Or legality neutral funding language. But the 28 examples Korwin and company found are not innocent. I wonder how many other examples might be found in other fields of law....
- vijayr 11y agoIf someone were to do it (make all the laws available in one place, in machine readable format, version control it etc) - is that even possible? Wikimedia might be a good candidate to take on such massive task (they'd need to restrict write access to actual lawyers)