The Elephant Room

Government Websites Have Free Content

If you are stuck trying to figure out how to generate content for your web site, search government sites for subjects your clients might be interested in. Content on government sites, unless otherwise noted, is free and is not copyright protected. You'll know it's a government site, because they all end in .gov as opposed to .com, .net, .org, etc. You can usually find the copyright notice at the bottom of the site in a link called something like "website policies".

Here is an excerpt from business.gov:

Copyright Notice

Pursuant to federal law, government-produced materials appearing on Business.gov are not copyright protected. The United States Government may receive and hold copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.

Except where otherwise noted, third-party content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Visitors to this website agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to Business.gov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

When using Business.gov you may encounter documents, illustrations, photographs, or other information resources contributed or licensed by private individuals, companies, or organizations that may be protected by U.S. and foreign copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use as defined in the copyright laws requires the written permission of the copyright owners. It is your responsibility to identify the copyright owner and obtain permission before making use of this material.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice

Business.gov respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask users of our websites to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, subscribers or account holders who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also at our sole discretion limit access to our Web site and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Here is an excerpt from energy.gov:

Copyright, Restrictions, and Permissions Notice

Government information at DOE Web sites is in the public domain. Public domain information may be freely distributed and copied, but it is requested that in any subsequent use the Department of Energy be given appropriate acknowledgement. When using DOE Web sites, you may encounter documents, illustrations, photographs, or other information resources contributed or licensed by private individuals, companies, or organizations that may be protected by U.S. and foreign copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use as defined in the copyright laws requires the written permission of the copyright owners.

Images on our web site which are in the public domain may be used without permission. If you use images from our web site, we ask that you credit us as the source. Please note that some images on our site may have been obtained from other organizations. Permission to use these images should be obtained directly from those organizations.

DOE Web sites have links to many other Web sites. Once you access another site through a link that we provide, you are subject to the copyright and licensing restrictions of the new site.

~Josh (and the United States Government)