[OSM-legal-talk] Contracts: What would we need from re-distributors?

Frederik Ramm frederik at remote.org
Fri Feb 22 14:33:29 GMT 2008


Hi,

     currently, there's a multitude of ways to access OSM data - the  
planet file, the API, tons of derived extracts and so on. Our license  
says there must be proper attribution but that's about it; you can  
redistribute OSM data in any way you like.

A license like the ODL that tries to do by contract where it cannot  
achieve its goals through database law will require the user's  
consent, i.e. he or she must somehow say "yes I agree to enter into  
this contract", otherwise it is worthless.

In the world around us, this is commonly done by putting stickers on  
CDs that say "by breaking this open you agree to ...", or web pages  
that require you to make an explicit "I agree" click or so.

Would we, if we were to employ something like the ODL, in the future  
have to force all redistributors to install such mechanisms? For  
example, let us assume there is someone, today, who offers to ship  
you the planet file on CD-ROM for $10 (with all the attribution etc).  
Will this person in the future have to be forced to put a sticker on  
his CD saying "by opening this you agree to ..."? Or, a less  
hypothetical example: I currently redistribute planet file excerpts;  
they can be simply and automatically be downloaded by everyone, with  
no session handling, no redirects or "I agree" buttons and so on.  
Will I have to change that in the future to disable automatic  
downloading (because machines cannot become party to a contract!),  
install a captcha and a big fat "I agree" button before every  
download (or alternatively, have users register with name and  
password on my site to give me their agreement)?

Or could we just distribute everything as we do now, adding a note  
that says "by using this you agree..."?

The latter seems to be equivalent to the "browse-wrap" stuff someone  
mentioned, and the former would be "click-wrap". Maybe I'm too  
pessimistic here but if it turned out that we need click-wrap because  
browse-wrap is unreliable, that could cause considerable trouble,  
especially where we're today relying on automatic downloads without  
registration. Ultimately we might have to require an account for  
downloading as well, and find a way to force all redistributors to  
make sure that all recipients have also "clicked" in some way.  
Wouldn't exactly sound like freedom to me...?

Bye
Frederik

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






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