[OSM-legal-talk] Progressing OSM to a new data Licence regime

[Gervase Markham]

SteveC wrote:
> It is early days in data licensing (as opposed to Free/Open software
> or creative work licensing). The OSMF feel that the ODL license is the
> way forward for our project and reject the Public Domain Dedication [http://www.opendatacommons.org/odc-public-domain-dedication-and-licence/
> ] because it offers no 'viral' (share alike) protection to the data.

Cards on the table: I entirely and wholeheartedly support this principle.

My question is this: if the database as a whole is covered by a SA 
provision, but the individual facts are equivalent to PD, how can the 
law prevent a nefarious person splitting the database into lots of 
individual facts by e.g. putting each on a separate web page, then 
trawling the pages to reassemble their own database of all the facts, 
which they then own? It may have a different schema, but basically all 
the data would be there.

Gerv