[OSM-legal-talk] Someone ought to do something ... dealing with violations of OSM's geodata license

[David Groom]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Collinson" <mike at ayeltd.biz>
To: "Licensing and other legal discussions." <legal-talk at openstreetmap.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 4:23 PM
Subject: [OSM-legal-talk] Someone ought to do something ... dealing with 
violations of OSM's geodata license


>
> This is a general question for discussion from the License Working Group. 
> I may also ask on the main list as the constituency is different.
>
> There are now 1 to 2 reports every month of folks violating OSM's license 
> by using OSM's data or maps without any or without adequate CC-BY-SA 
> attribution and they take several weeks to fix on average.  These are 
> mostly websites but include poster advertising, a TV advertisement and a 
> TV show. This has sort of landed in the LWG's lap by default but we feel 
> we are not dealing with the issues adequately and some issues not at all. 
> We welcome suggestions on a better system. Our main function is the 
> internal license change, and until that is done, we really don't have the 
> resource to handle external matters like this.
>
> Here's a run down of what happens at the moment:
>
> - At the very minimum, we want to keep make a public record of alleged 
> violations to show that these things do not pass un-noticed and to provide 
> a central point for collating frequency and the nature of the problem.  So 
> far, if the LWG hears a report, we document the basics in a "Hall of 
> Shame" section of our weekly meeting minutes, 
> http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Working_Group_Minutes
>
> - A member of the OSMF board or LWG  takes up the particular issue. This 
> depends very much on personal enthusiasm. It requires initial tact - most 
> instances are neglect/cannot be bothered rather than purely wilful. It 
> requires persistance and follow-up,  - we generally get an "oh we will fix 
> it immediately" ... and then they don't. It requires careful coordination 
> within the OSM/OSMF community to provide a united front. It may require 
> research - for example, how exactly should a TV ad provide a CC-BY-SA 
> atttibution? And lastly, future cases may involve bumping up to formal 
> legal help and legal action.  Not easy for one person to do.
>

Whilst this may not be easy for one person to do, I would say it is 
impossible for "the community" to do.

"Tact", is something quite often missing from "the community"

"careful  co-ordination within the OSM/OSMF community"  is something 
impossible to achieve without a co-ordinator.  Once you have a co-ordinator 
you have the defacto starting of a committee.

Ignoring the practicalities above, once someone has agreed to the CT's they 
effectively assign the majority of their rights to OSMF in respect of data 
held by OSMF, with that assignment of rights I question from a legal point 
of view who but the OSMF are actually able to follow up legal breaches.

Lastly, if we are taking data from 3rd parties (or indeed individual 
contributors)  who have agreed it can be used by OSMF on the condition there 
is attribution, then surely there is a moral responsibility, if not a legal 
duty, for OSMF to do their utmost to agree that attribution takes place.

If the LWG is not the appropriate body to undertake such a task then another 
body should be set up, but leaving it to "the community" does not seem a 
viable option.

David

>
> Mike
> LWG