[OSM-legal-talk] Contact Info For Tom Hughes Regarding Public Domain Mailing List

[Rob Myers]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 10:32 AM, Richard Fairhurst
<richard at systemed.net> wrote:
> Liz wrote:
>
>> I don't want PD for my data because then I can see the company like
>> Garmin
>> freely using it to update their maps and still charging me for my
>> data.
>
> But this is what I never get when people wheel out the old canard of
> "the tragedy of the commons". These days, the commons is infinite. You
> still have your data. You still own your data. Garmin won't be
> charging you for your data - you no longer need it, because you have
> your own.

The tragedy of the commons was that they were enclosed. There's no
historical evidence for the economic canard.

With PD, Garmin *can* lock you out and charge you *in a particular
location*. If you are concerned with having your own wealth elsewhere,
that isn't a problem. If you are concerned with being free to actually
do something where you are now, it's a big problem.

- Rob.