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

[Richard Fairhurst]

Ian Haylock wrote:

> Surely if a person releases something under PD, he/she is giving up   
> all rights to that information, be it software, data, etc.
> So what's to stop OSM doing what they want with the data.
>
> For instance if the whole of the OSM database was public domain. A   
> private company could write some mapping software that uses OSM   
> data,  And there would be nothing to stop them selling this software  
>  and data together.
>
> Or have I got this PD thing all wrong ?

Brief recap:

Some OSM users would be very happy with this.

Others insist on a "share-alike" provision, as there is in the current  
licence.

Reconciling the two is pretty much impossible, and neither side is  
going to convince the other.

What we're discussing is adopting a better licence, not changing the  
whole approach in this way. There have also been suggestions that  
individual users could choose to formally declare their edits to be  
public domain, facilitating unrestricted use of their data. That is  
also worth discussing.

Big philosophical questions about "which is better" probably aren't  
worth it. We've been there a thousand times before and we're not going  
to change anyone's mind.

Please keep the discussion on legal-talk at openstreetmap.org, not  
talk at openstreetmap.org - thanks. :)

cheers
Richard