Portrait of Allen McCarthy, former Massachusetts state representative.
This work is in the <b><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_domain" class="mw-redirect" title="Public domain">public domain</a></b> in the United States because it was a <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts" title="Massachusetts">Commonwealth of Massachusetts</a> public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Secretary_of_the_Commonwealth" class="extiw" title="w:Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth">Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth</a> has stated that such works can be copied and used <i>for any purpose</i>. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r695744913">.mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden{clear:both}.mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden>.mw-collapsible-toggle{float:none}.mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden::before{display:none}html.client-js .mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden-headertext{padding-left:18px}.mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden.mw-made-collapsible>.mw-collapsible-toggle>.tpl-hidden-headertext{background-image:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/MediaWiki_Vector_skin_action_arrow.png");background-position:left 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .tpl-hidden.mw-made-collapsible.mw-collapsed>.mw-collapsible-toggle>.tpl-hidden-headertext{background-image:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/MediaWiki_Vector_skin_right_arrow.png")}</style><div class="mw-collapsible-toggle" style="font-weight:bold; background-color:transparent; text-align:center; text-align:left"><span class="tpl-hidden-headertext">Language describing permissions</span></div>
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<p><small>A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law,
Published by
William Francis Galvin,
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Division of Public Records,
(Updated January 2017)
can be found at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf">http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf</a> and page 7 says:</small>
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<blockquote class="templatequote language"><p>"With the exception of situations in which a records custodian is withholding records pursuant to Exemption (n), inquiries into a requester's status or motivation for seeking information are expressly prohibited. <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> Consequently, all requests for public records, <b>even if made for a commercial purpose</b> or to assist the requester in a lawsuit against the holder of the records, must be honored in accordance with the Public Records Law."
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<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><small>See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (public records are to be provided to “any person”); see also 950 CMR 32.05(5) (custodian prohibited from inquiring into a requester’s status or motivation); but see G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(n) (a records custodian may ask the requester to voluntarily provide additional information in order to reach a “reasonable judgment” regarding disclosure of responsive records).</small> </span>
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<p><small>
Public records are defined in A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law,
Published by
William Francis Galvin,
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Division of Public Records,
(Updated January 2017)
at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf">http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf</a> on page 40, under M. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) as:</small>
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<blockquote class="templatequote language"><p>all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, <b>regardless of physical form or characteristics</b>, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, or any person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which receives or expends public funds for the payment or administration of pensions for any current or former employees of the commonwealth or any political subdivision as defined in section 1 of chapter 32, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions found <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf">on page 40</a>
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<td align="left" width="100%"><small>Concerned wikipedia editors have noticed that the Commonwealth may make <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/copyfraud" class="extiw" title="w:copyfraud">unfounded allegations</a> that copyright protections exist for state regulations based on technical codes developed and copyrighted by private organizations. Where such works/allegations are concerned, <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r588530194">.mw-parser-output .nowrap,.mw-parser-output .nowrap a:before,.mw-parser-output .nowrap .selflink:before{white-space:nowrap}</style><code class="nowrap">{{<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-EdictGov" title="Template:PD-EdictGov">PD-EdictGov</a>}}</code> and <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r588530194"><code class="nowrap">{{<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law" title="Template:PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law">PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law</a>}}</code> may be appropriate.</small>
</td></tr></tbody></table><table class="messagebox standard-talk" style="direction:ltr; border: 1px solid #CC9999; background-color: #FFCCCC;"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><img alt="Warning" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Dialog-stop-hand.svg/50px-Dialog-stop-hand.svg.png" decoding="async" title="Warning" width="50" height="50" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Dialog-stop-hand.svg/75px-Dialog-stop-hand.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Dialog-stop-hand.svg/100px-Dialog-stop-hand.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"></td>
<td align="left" width="100%"><small>This template is based on official statements by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, which are not definitive in the way a statute or a court ruling is. This formal statement only speaks to public records <i>held by the Massachusetts Archives</i>, so the use of this template for public records of the Commonwealth sourced from individuals or groups not affiliated therewith is not encouraged.</small>
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<p>This is consistent with the statement at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ARC/arcres/residx.htm">http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ARC/arcres/residx.htm</a>:
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<dl><dd>"Those records created by Massachusetts government agencies and institutions held by the Massachusetts Archives are not copyrighted and are available for public use. Copyright for materials submitted to state agencies may be held by the person or organization that created the document."</dd></dl>
Unknown date<div style="display: none;">Unknown date</div>
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/publicofficersof00bost/page/172/mode/2up?q=McCarthy">Public officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2009-2010)</a> (original source)
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.enterprisenews.com/article/20101027/NEWS/310279579">Q&amp;A with 7th Plymouth state rep candidate Allen McCarthy</a> (this version)