[Osmf-talk] Share Alike images

Tobias Knerr osm at tobias-knerr.de
Tue Dec 8 05:10:12 UTC 2009


Henk Hoff wrote:
> Within OSM we are with a great group of people how are all advocates of free
> data. However, there are still a lot of people in the world outside OSM who
> are even more evil than the evil-ist person here! To protect the goals of
> the OSM-project (creating free maps) a Share-Alike clause is very important.

How can evilâ„¢ people stop us from creating free maps? It seems that /not
helping/ us is the worst they can do. And I don't think we really need
their help, we can create excellent free maps on our own.

> The Share-Alike clause is a simple we-all-benefite. It's *only* a
> restriction when you want to modify the data (e.g. to make it more accurate)
> and want to release that modified database under a closed license

... or if you *do* want to publish it under an equally open license, but
unfortunately it's a different, incompatible share-alike license

... or if you want to publish the result under an even *more* open
license (say, CC-by, or CC0)

... or if you *have* to release the modified database under a
restrictive license because you are using data that requires it (e.g.
data with NC restrictions)

SA certainly has benefits, and given the current situation is likely a
sensible choice for OSM, but claiming that there are no drawbacks and
everyone benefits from it is clearly not true.

Tobias Knerr




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