[OSM-legal-talk] Private negotiations

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> CONDITIONS FOR TIMSC TO RELICENSE HIS DATA (Version 1)

This is an interesting document and the first time that I have seen 
*anybody*, including past and present members of OSMF board, draft such 
a detailed "code of conduct" if you will.

There are some ideas in there that I would agreee with, maybe in a 
slightly softer wording, and I would hope that TimSC either stands for 
election to the board or becomes a member of the AoA group that is also 
trying to lay down some rules for the future of OSMF.

It is unfortunate that TimSC tries to make OSMF reform a condition of 
his agreement to relicense his contribution. This is of course totally 
out of the question, and it is sad because even the good ideas in the 
document are tarnished by this attempt at coercion. One could almost say 
that now, even if OSMF were to implement some of the usable ideas in 
that document, they would forever have to defend themselves against the 
notion that they sold out just to keep a minuscle amount of data (data 
that is, if RichardF is to be believed, not even universally welcomed by 
other mappers on the ground).

I suggest that TimSC's attempt at "negotiation" be categorically 
rejected without further ado; he should be treated exactly the same as 
any other mapper and if he doesn't reconsider then his contributions 
will have to be removed and, where desirable, remapped. No single 
individual can possibly have made a contribution that should allow them 
to, without even being elected, exert such influence on OSMF.

(If TimSC is granted special treatment because of his personal 
contribution, then what even more special treatment would we have to 
afford entities like AND, Yahoo, or Bing who have done a lot for us?)

At the same time, and even though this may sound conflicting, an effort 
should be made to involve TimSC in AoA discussions, or he should be 
encouraged to stand for election to the board, because <see first two 
paragraphs>.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"