[OSM-legal-talk] Making OSM Public domain

[A Morris]

On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 12:36 AM, Joseph Gentle <josephg at gmail.com> wrote:
> Some people have different ideas of what 'free' should mean for our maps.
>
> Do you prefer that we:
> (o)  Place no restrictions on the use of the map data [link to PD stuff]
> (o)  Force anyone using maps based on OpenStreetMaps to share their
> improvements back to the community [link to SA stuff]
>

How about the following wording:

Do you prefer to:
(o) Allow satnav hardware manufacturers to wrap your data in DRM such
that any users (including yourself) must pay to get updates [link to
Tivo stuff]?
(o) Ensure that users of the data contribute back any improvements they make.

or maybe:

Do you prefer to:
(o) Allow third parties to add proprietary extensions to your data so
that OSM will always be inferior to commercial alternatives [link to
Wine/Codeweavers stuff?
(o) Ensure that users of the data contribute back any improvements they make.

Seriously though, the PD/share-alike debate cannot be condensed down
to two sentences. The situations listed above are not theoretical;
most people will not even have considered the possible consequences of
PD, and certainly not if they take any notice of the pro-PD propaganda
on this list.

Aled.