[OSM-dev] Planet Updates

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 04/18/2012 07:52 PM, Sergey Galuzo wrote:
> Sorry. I don't quite get it. If the database content is identical how would anybody know how the database got there?

Let me explain it by example.

Case A: You meet a stranger in the street. You point a gun to his head 
and request he give you five dollars. He complies. Nobody sees it. A 
second later he is run over by a bus.

Case B: You meet a stranger in the street. You tell him that you 
urgently need to catch a bus and whether he could spare five dollars. He 
gives five dollars to you. Nobody sees it. A second later he is run over 
by a bus.

In both cases, the end result is the same; the other guy is dead and you 
have five dollars. Nobody apart from yourself will ever know how the 
five dollars got there.

But case A is illegal and case B is legal. Just because nobody knows 
that you did something illegal, doesn't make it legal.

Clear so far?

If you have a current database on disk it is CC-BY-SA licensed and 
nothing will ever change that. It is not dual-liecensed, not 
CC-BY-SA-until-OSMF-says-otherwise - just CC-BY-SA and that's it. Any 
work derived from this database, and applying a diff is clearly making a 
derived work, will always have to be CC-BY-SA, that's what the license 
requires. Even if whoever gave you the file changes their mind and says 
"from now on I'll hand the file out as PD", that will not change the 
fact that what you have *on disk* is CC-BY-SA forever. (This same 
reasoning also works to protect you - if whoever gave you the file 
suddenly says "from now on I will only release my file with additional 
conditions attached" then you still have the CC-BY-SA version on your 
disk that nobody can take away from you.)

In a nutshell, you can probably continue to use your database under ODbL 
and nobody will notice. It won't be legal though and you'd better keep 
quiet about it. And I don't recommend it.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"