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Works created by U.S. federal government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain, according to 17 U.S.C. § 105, except for classifie
by porphyra 2y ago
Works created by U.S. federal government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain, according to 17 U.S.C. § 105, except for classified or restricted information (but none of what he posted is classified or restricted)
- jonahbenton 2y agoImplying that DOGE bozo is law-compliant while breaking laws and destroying trust is...humor too soon?
- raverbashing 2y agoSeems like a case of "a broken clock is right twice a day"
- addicted 2y agoSimilarly, wearing a seatbelt on your way to assassinate somebody.
- selfhoster 2y ago[flagged]
- a12k 2y ago“Bozo” is pretty lightweight for someone actively trying to destroy the foundations of this country’s government and democratic policies.
- FreebasingLLMs 2y ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> administrative state (created during FDR) is going away Created by FDR through acts of the Congress. DOGE is ironically recapitulating the lawlessness that tanked Sourh Africa’s economy. Also, we’re seeing a breathless expansion of federal executive power. The administrative state isn’t going away. It’s being subsumed. The size of the government is being increased, not decreased—that’s why the GOP budget calls for $2 trillion in new deficits over ten years. One can celebrate cost cutting. But other than USAID, there is no sign anything durable is being done. The power of the central government is being expanded in ways that should be obviously problematic for anyone thinking ahead: next cycle, a Dem President can just cancel student debts by firing everyone in loan collections and shredding the loan documents.
- a12k 2y ago> Calm down...You're behaving in a histrionic way. This sort of condescension is characteristic of people who hold the opinions you do. The rest of your post is complete nonsense.
- FreebasingLLMs 2y ago[flagged]
- Jtsummers 2y agoYou're responding to someone who believes DOGE is getting rid of corruption in government while Musk is capturing contracts for his own companies. There's no point in responding to people like them. They aren't based in reality. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y agoHard disagree with this take. There is certainly a purpose responding to them. Whether or not their opinion is changed comes down to them.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Jtsummers 2y agoIf the individual is living in a fantasy land, then any responses here will be discarded by them as fantasy themselves. Someone who legitimately believes that Musk is fighting corruption when Musk is also directing contracts to his own businesses is in a fantasy land. If the individual is trolling, which could be the case here, then responding is just feeding the troll. It encourages them. The better thing in both cases is to ignore them. At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts (like that Musk is directing contracts to his own companies) so that others don't fall into the same fantasy land.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y agoIt does not seem like we disagree. > At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts There is still a purpose for the response. It may not be for a particular reader, but there are other readers. It would be worth it to flag and move on if there is nothing to engage with but that’s not the case here.
- tomcam 2y agoI feel they are actively shoring up the country’s foundations. For decades, since the Church committee in the 1970s and under Vice President Gore’s Reinventing Government initiative (which IIRC resulted in the removal of 100,000 government employees), disclosure of questionable or hidden programs was a core progressive value.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago> disclosure of questionable or hidden programs We’re seeing more “claims” than “disclosures”. Can you point me any examples of the latter?
- Swenrekcah 2y agoWhen Elon became the role model probably
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoThey’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Name calling other HN users is against the guidelines.
- Lichtso 2y ago> They’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Not in Germany. Public insults are punishable. Doing so in a permanent way with lots of outreach (like the web is) increases the consequences.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Not in Germany Not sure why anyone should be emulating Germany right now.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- agilob 2y ago>humor too soon? C'mon USA, do something funny.
- whynotmaybe 2y ago"Funny", since yesterday I can't get out of my head the clip "You think I'm funny" from the goodfellas Except the second half never happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4
- tomcam 2y agoWhat laws are being broken?
- asveikau 2y agoSomeone interested in filtering employees by union status seems highly suspicious to me that that someone is interested in breaking labor laws.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> What laws are being broken? In this specific case? Unclear. Will wait for the lawsuits. In the last weeks, the DOGE bros have broken the Privacy Act of 1974 [1] and numerous court orders [2]. [1] https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv-255-complaint-021025.pdf https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv... [2] https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-against-doge-treasury-access-judge-blocks-new-policy/ https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-a...
- slashdev 2y agoGiven they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances, I’m not sure these will succeed. At least to my mind it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law. The devil is in the specific details.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances We know this wasn’t done when they were rummaging around the Treasury. Courts are granting restraining orders because the DOGE bros acted so incompetently. (It’s generally incredibly hard to restrain government employees.) > it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law Same way a park ranger can’t walk onto a military base and start rummaging through documents. Or start tweeting them. (Or hell, the President himself tweet your tax return.)
- anonym29 2y agoWhat functional, diplomatic purpose exists for calling him a "bozo"? What problems does this solve? Which tensions does this ease? Which conflicts does this stop? What sensitive government data does this un-leak? Which broken laws does this adjudicate? What usurped power is being brought back under control with this? Or is it just contributing to a one-way ratchet that only ever increases partisan polarization and hostility for no reason at all, instead of seeking to de-escalate and solve problems? P.S. this goes for Trump/Musk/DOGE supporters too. Name calling and vindictive personal attacks aren't decreasing the deficit, they're not paying off the debt, they're not reducing weaponization of government against conservatives, they're doing nothing to address border and immigration concerns, and they aren't reducing crime. So I ask you, too, what problems are being solved with vindictive, spiteful namecalling?
- marxisttemp 2y agoHow dare we call the vindictive, spiteful, name calling president currently destroying our country names! > weaponization of government against conservatives The government is clearly being weaponized against anyone who has ever opposed Trump in any way. You are in a reality tunnel.
- InTheArena 2y agoThe OP is not. He’s calling someone working on a project, posting his code to GitHub names. The correct response in a democratic society to people attacking political enemies as enemies of the state, spreading untruths, attacking the rule of law, and acting like assholes is _to not do these these things_.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- marxisttemp 2y agoOkay
- KerrAvon 2y ago
- rdtsc 2y agoHow do we know he is a bozo?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- throw16180339 2y agoHe's taking orders from bad actors. That's reason enough to call him a bozo, although collaborator might be more appropriate.
- kubectl_h 2y agoCan one request all of the code this dude has written or is it as his discretion what is released to the public domain?
- porphyra 2y agoidk try to make a FOIA request
- jerrygenser 2y agoDOGE moving under the presidents executive office instead of as a separate agency seemed to be done for the purpose of shielding DOGE From FOIA and only subject to President Records Act
- cyanydeez 2y agoAnd Trump's history with that act suggests it'll go to the highest bidder, foreign or domestic
- selfhoster 2y agoIs it OK to make baseless accusations on Hacker News now? When did that become OK?
- tastyfreeze 2y agoOnly if you are attacking Trump or anything his administration is doing.
- CamperBob2 2y agoHe could always try committing fewer crimes, and see how that goes for him.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> U.S. federal government employees as part of their official duties “Official duties” is load bearing in this sentence. If the work is found to have been improperly authorised, this DOGE bro is acting in his personal capacity. That means personal liability for his actions and lawbreaking.
- grandempire 2y agoI think it’s pretty hard to show an employee is not acting in an official duty in regards to work material. I don’t think this is a sound legal opinion.
- atkailash 2y ago[dead]
- iwontberude 2y agoCounter: Especially when they can decide without any resistance from the judicial branch who is an officer, an official, etc. They interpret all laws as being friendly to them and ignore the contradictions when it suits them. This isn’t rule of law and you know it. Sound legal opinions don’t mean shit now.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> it’s pretty hard to show an employee is not acting in an official duty Not if they’re violating a court order without executive privilege. Wick officially works for the USDS and CFPB. If Bessent and Trump haven’t given a clear order to violate the law, his actions cease to be on behalf of the United States but instead enacted in his personal capacity. Similar to a park ranger walking into a military base and trying to run off with some kit.
- grandempire 2y agoInteresting theory, lets check back next year.
- ratg13 2y agoNow the debate begins on whether downloading Twitter DMs is an official government duty.
- huslage 2y agoThis is a ridiculous statement. The US Government (or any government) has processes to publish data so that it is well vetted and understood. Some script kiddie isn't allowed to just post things in public on his own.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mistrial9 2y agoroughly speaking - the work products of the US Federal Govt are public unless specifically ruled otherwise. It may be hard to believe that, but historically it is the exact opposite of the British Crown policy "all government information is restricted unless specifically ruled otherwise" IANAL
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- austin-cheney 2y agoThat is a clear misinterpretation of the law. The law says that copyright protections do not exist for government work created for a government capacity except where noted. That does not mean any of that work is in the public domain. Just because copyright protections are not available does not mean other intellectual property protections are equally void. Here is the law text: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105 By the way it seems most of the stuff I produce for the government contains copyright notices. I don't know if those notices are valid or not, but none of the stuff I produce is in the public domain or released to the public.