Aaron Shaw has a very interesting post on what sure looks like contradictory instructions from the White House about whether we’re free to remix photos that have been released under a maximally permissive U.S. Government license. Aaron checked in with a Berkman mailing list where two theories are floated: It’s due to a PR reflex, or it’s an attempt to impose a contractual limitation on the work. There have been lots of other attempts to impose such limitations on reuse, so that “august” works don’t end up being repurposed by hate groups and pornographers; I don’t know if such limitations have any legal bite.

Dan Jones places himself clearly on the side of remixing. Here’s the White House original:

And here’s Dan’s gentle remix:

Hey look out Mr. President! A supposedly unauthorized derivative work is headed right toward you!! (alert: @aaronshaw) twitter.com/blanket/status…

— Daniel Dennis Jones (@blanket) June 4, 2012

Bring it, Holder! :)

Categories: berkman, copyright dw