watson.fawkes - 14-4-2012 at 18:47
Carl Malamud, hero of open information, has been at it again. At public.resource.org, he has made available the building codes from most of the 50 of the states of the USA. See the bulk access page. What's significant about this is that these codes incorporate many national and international code from organizations such as
the NFPA and the IBC.
Here's an example: The Oklahoma Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code, which incorporates NFPA 30-2003, the 2003 Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code. The first
three pages are what the legislature wrote. The remaining 124 pages are from the NFPA. Member entropy51 referenced this code in this thread.
This isn't piracy. This is legal. Here's a precis of the relevant USA law. The text of laws and regulations must be public to be considered lawful,
and it may not be hidden (established by a Supreme Court decision). Incorporating copyrighted material into legislation does not override this
(established at the Federal appellate level). Therefore, it's legal to publish laws and regulations that incorporate code materials. Nevertheless, the
issue might be litigated, and the judge in such a case might issue a preliminary injunction requiring the materials to be taken off-line. No such case
is currently pending.
There's an amusing photo essay called Code City outlining the politics.
Here are some incorporated codes available at the site:
NFPA 1-2006, Uniform Fire Code.
NFPA 10-2002, Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers.
NFPA 11-2005, Standard for Low-, Medium-, and High-Expansion Foam.
NFPA 12-2005, Standard on Carbon Dioxide Extinguishing Systems.
NFPA 13-2002, Installation of Sprinkler Systems.
NFPA 25-2002, Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems.
NFPA 54-2006, National Fuel Gas Code.
NFPA 58-2001, Liquified Petroleum Gas Code.
NFPA 101-2003, Life Safety Code.