[OSM-legal-talk] ODbL comments from Creative Commons

[John Wilbanks]

> From: Richard Fairhurst <richard at systemed.net>
> Though I have a lot of time for CC in general, and agree with their general
> stance that PD is the ideal way to go, I don't really find that a very
> useful response.
> 
> I count 20 occurrences of the word "science", "scientists" or similar; eight
> of "education" and "educator"; but not a single one of "map" or "geo".

If this were the "Open Street Map License" and not the "Open Database 
License" it's unlikely we would have such a strong opinion. It's one 
thing for a community of practice to embed its norms in its own license. 
It's quite another to create such a license and promote its use for all 
databases.

Though I disagree fundamentally with share-alike on data for a lot of 
reasons, I disagree even more with the promotion of the idea of 
licensing into data generally. This isn't simply about OSM writing its 
own license - it's about the promotion of the idea that complex 
licensing in the name of "freedom" is a good idea, and that's going to 
have effects that reach far beyond your community, indeed, into places 
where the public domain has to date been the vital steward of data sharing.

Software and culture work pretty well for the promotion of single 
licenses. But a database of mapping and geo is very different from a 
database of biology, chemistry, or physics. And it's even more different 
than a database of cultural works. The promotion of a geomapping set of 
norms as an "open database license" is part of the reason I have such an 
allergic reaction to this license. I'd far prefer this be the OSM 
license, but so far, it's being promoted as a generic solution and as 
such it's going to be considered by scientists, educators, loop 
creators, and on and on and on. So comments *must* address concerns that 
go beyond those of the immediate community.

jtw

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John Wilbanks

VP for Science, Creative Commons
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http://sciencecommons.org
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