Can OSI specify that public domain is open source?

[Tom Callaway]

On 09/07/2011 03:46 PM, Karl Fogel wrote:
> But note that for the U.S. Government, sometimes there literally is no
> option to use a license!  They *can't*, by law, if no contractors were
> involved and the software was written by government employees as part of
> their official duties, etc, etc.  You see the problem...

I understand the problem. I still would prefer that we not imply that
public domain is the same thing as open source. If we must add a FAQ
item, then I propose something like:

  Works of the United States Government for which copyright is
  unavailable under 17 U.S.C. 105. are considered to be in the Public
  Domain in the United States. Even though such works are not
  technically open source, in the United States this means that
  there are no restrictions on those works. This may not be true in
  non-US jurisdictions. Public Domain is an extremely complicated and
  tricky concept, and the OSI does not endorse abandoning your
  copyrights to place a work into the Public Domain whenever it is
  avoidable. If you wish to license your work with an extremely
  permissive "do anything you wish" license that is roughly equivalent
  to a Public Domain work, consider using the Creative Commons 0
  License, if possible.

~tom

==
Fedora Project