[OSM-legal-talk] INANAL - But these guys are

[Frederik Ramm]

Should have gone to the list:

Hi,

> You're trying to make an abstract theory of a very easy and  
> practial issue.  You simply cannot "go PD".

Sure you can. You will have to ask everybody who contributed in the  
past, and delete data created by those who don't want to "go PD" (or  
better still, seal that part off in a CC-BY-SA container that needs  
to be explicitly added on the front-end).

The very same would be required if we contributors were to transfer
our right to personal attribution to OSMF or some such body (which is  
seemingly possible under recent CC-BY-SA versions but still would  
require approval by contributors AFAIR).

Obviously, the longer the project is alive, the more difficult it  
becomes to ask everybody who contributed (and the bigger the number  
of former contributors who don't react or don't exist any longer).

 > Dozens of OSM
> contributors would break your legs if you tried.

Actually, I believe that the percentage of OSM contributors who would  
not have signed on if the thing would have been PD to boot with is  
rather marginal. Then again, maybe those are really people who'd  
break your legs ;-)

> However, this last summer I printed a map and sent to the  
> anniversary party where everybody happily signed it and nobody  
> protested against the way I reused the OSM data.  This is a proof  
> of what you can apparently get away with,

"Apparently getting away with something" is exactly the kind of legal  
limbo that frightens off those potential users who have something to  
lose by getting sued. It may be ok for you. Don't assume it is ok for  
everybody.

> More attribution than that is not needed.  Or sue me.

I'd rather create an atmosphere where using our data does not imply  
the risk of being sued. If you are a private user, it is rather  
unlikely that somebody is going to sue you because of peanuts (which  
doesn't necessary make those peanuts legal). A corporate user might  
run a much higher risk; take for example a TV station wanting to use  
one of our maps and being in tight competition with other TV  
stations. Depending on the jurisdiction, the TV station's competitors  
may throw a lot of money in just to make life difficult for them...

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00.09' E008°23.33'