[OSM-legal-talk] Is an object created by a non-agreer always tainted, even if all info has been deleted/changed by agreers?

Woll Newall woll at 2-islands.com
Thu Feb 2 13:43:57 GMT 2012


What is the consensus on the legal status of an object that has been  
created by a non-agreer, but all of the nodes and all of the tags have  
been deleted/changed by agreers?

i.e.:
1) Non-agreer creates a way with tags 'name=A' and 'highway=tertiary',  
and 3 nodes (with no tags).
2) An agreer then deletes 1 node and moves the other 2 nodes, and  
changes the tags to be 'name=B' and 'highway=secondary'.

Is that way now clean or still tainted? I think that it is clean.

My thoughts:
Tags
I think that the changing of those tags makes the tags clean. The  
existence of the 'name' and 'highway' tags (separate from the actual  
tag values) is not "creative". The values of the tags could be  
"creative", but the values have been changed.
I guess that it could be argued that the existence of some other  
obscure tags might be "creative" enough. Can anyone think of any tags  
whose mere existence on an object  (but with a different value)  
carries enough "ownership" to make the way tainted?

Nodes
I think that the nodes are also clean.
However, I think that there was a discussion about this a while ago,  
where someone argued that, if the new nodes/node-positions were  
derived in some way from the original nodes, then they would still be  
tainted. However, surely we are trusting agreers to only use odbl/CT- 
compatible sources to enter those new nodes/node-positions, so they  
can't be tainted? If the agreer was actually creating a completely new  
way, we are also trusting that they only use compatible sources to  
position the nodes, so it is equivalent surely?


Another thought - What if the scenario is actually:
0) Agreer creates a way with 3 nodes and with tags 'name=Z' and  
'highway=residential'
1) Non-agreer changes tags 'name=A' and 'highway=tertiary', and moves  
all 3 nodes.
2) An agreer then deletes 1 node and moves the other 2 nodes, and  
changes the tags to be 'name=B' and 'highway=secondary'.
is the way tainted or clean?I think that it must be clean.
Is this conceptually any different from the first scenario?
The only difference in scenario 2 is that the way was originally  
created by an agreer rather than a non-agreer.
If we accept that all of the agreers must be using odbl/CT-compatible  
sources, then surely both scenarios must result in a way that is clean?



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