[OSM-legal-talk] [OSM-talk] ODbL vs CC-by-SA pros and cons

Maarten Deen mdeen at xs4all.nl
Sun Aug 29 19:25:00 BST 2010


On 29-8-2010 19:21, Rob Myers wrote:
> On 08/29/2010 05:58 PM, Maarten Deen wrote:
>>
>  > I'm merely
>> pointing out that it is impossible to ask from a contributor to accept
>> the current license *and every imaginable other license* because we
>> don't know how the license will change in the future.
>
> We do know how the licence will change: it will change to address
> challenges to the freedom to use maps and geodata freely.

You do know in which general direction this license change is heading, 
but you have no idea how the license will change in the future. And you 
can not expect a contributor to accept the current license and every 
imaginable other license because OSM might change to some yet unknown 
license in the future.

Please understand the point I'm making. It's not about the current 
license change, it's about the comment
 > I haven't made a statement about the Kosovo information. I'm sure that
 > whoever has imported it has made sure it would be compatible with future
 > license changes as suggested on the imports Wiki page for ages.

You cannot make current data compatible with future license changes if 
you don't know what the license changes will be. We know about the 
upcoming license change, we do not know about any further license changes.

>> That, basically, is the same as asking to sign a blank sheet of paper.
>
> It's basically the same as copyright assignment. Which can work well for
> projects of non-profit foundations.

Copyright assignment is not signing a blank sheet of paper.

Regards,
Maarten



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