[OSM-legal-talk] PD declaration non binding?

[TimSC]

Hi again, legal question this time,

This is mainly aimed at the LWG but others might have a view. I was 
wondering, why isn't the PD declaration binding, according to the wiki page?

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Why_would_I_want_my_contributions_to_be_public_domain

"If you declare your contributions to be in the Public Domain, *you are 
thereby making a statement only. You will not actually be changing the 
license or what people can do with your data*, because database law 
still overrides the protection of individual items. People will have to 
adhere to ODbL when they want to use OSM, even if a majority of 
contributions should be declared PD."

If this is intended to gauge user opinion, it is a rather blunt tool. 
What about people who want other licenses? I would start speculating but 
I might get called a conspiracy nut by SteveC :)

According to the wiki, there is no legal implications to the 
declaration, so it was not intended for this purpose. On the other hand 
the license page on the rails port says "In addition to the above 
agreement, I consider my contributions to be in the Public Domain" - how 
is this not a legal agreement to put contributions in the PD? Perhaps 
some clarification would improve the situation.

TimSC

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