Copyright and source-file policy

This archive is a citation and annotation project. It is not a wholesale document dump.

Repository license is not a source-document license

Original writing, configuration, and scripts in this repository are CC BY 4.0. That licence does not attach to third-party historical documents.

If a PDF or scan later appears under documents/, assume it keeps its original copyright, Crown copyright, or unknown-rights status unless the matching source page documents a specific permission.

Default handling

For material that may still be copyrighted, record:

  1. Metadata and a short annotation
  2. A bibliographic citation (references.bib)
  3. A stable public link, when one exists
  4. An archived-link field, when an archived copy already exists

Do not copy every historical PDF into the repository.

When a file may be hosted

Commit a file under documents/ only when redistribution is clearly permitted and the permission or licence is quoted on the source page (rights_note).

Clear permission means one of:

  • public domain
  • written permission from the copyright holder for this reproduction
  • a licence on the work that expressly allows redistribution of the copy we host
  • a Crown or government copyright notice that clearly allows this reproduction

When a file must not be hosted

  • private CSIL employer records
  • personal health information
  • unpublished private correspondence
  • private-chat or private-repo material
  • scans with unknown rights
  • library or archival copies that are restricted

Fair dealing / quotation

Short quotation for identification or a specific cited claim may be acceptable. Do not paste chapters, manuals, or evaluation reports into Markdown.

Contributor reminder

If rights are unclear, open an issue describing the source without attaching the file.