[OSM-legal-talk] Re: [OSM-talk] about freedom in PD/BSD/MIT/Apache

[TM]

SteveC wrote:
> Arn't we talking about two different derivative works?
>
> Is there a sane way we can make the data be share-alike, but use in
> mashups or paper maps etc arn't?
>   
Like everyone else, IANAL.

I can understand the concerns raised earlier and the arguments
for/against different licensing schemes, but I try to avoid those
debates as they tend get overly political.

But I think that Lars had a point earlier, when he discussed the
enforcement aspect. I don't expect you personally or the OSMF to take
someone to court over a google mashup. The most likely case to go to
court would be where someone believed their data had been used in OSM,
so this is what we really need to prepare for.

I would favour something like the BSD terms, where the data is provided
for free* by the OSM/F*, and anyone can use it without restriction. If
someone makes use of it together with licensed (or even stolen) data,
that would be their problem. This way people can -- at their own risk or
expense -- use any dataset regardless of its legal status. They just
cannot enter the data into OSM unless it can be freely distributed. And
the availability of data is guaranteed by the project (or foundation).

What needs to be considered is a way to shift responsibility from OSM/F
to the original contributor, because once data is released it's
effectively out of our control. If it turns out that the released data
is less than kosher, there is no way to recall it. Hopefully people
would prefer to use the latest data, but there would still be cases
where old (tainted) data was used. I don't know if the occasional lapse
might be forgiven if it could be argued that procedures were in place to
prevent this (due diligence) but if the releasing entity (Steve, the
project or the foundation) were to be liable I can't see how we could
release anything.

Personally I think the data should be made available as freely as
possible. The project started as a reaction to the lack of free data, so
imposing too many restrictions on the use of the data wouldn't really be
in the spirit of the project. (And the GPL viral redistribution
requirements could be considered a restriction, especially when mixing
data from different sources.)

Sure, this would allow someone to set up his on server and start a
"competing" project based on our database, although I would expect most
people to rather contribute to OSM in the first place. So I wouldn't
have a problem with this.

And if someone wanted to use our data for commercial purposes, they
would be free to do so. This would be possible for us as well so this
means that we would have a head start in the (unlikely) event that such
a market develops. Openstreetmap Corporation, anyone? :-)

    /   TM

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