[OSM-legal-talk] Worry-some bill in Iceland

[Svavar Kjarrval]

Wait what?

I don't think they'd trust OSM for its geodata databases, especially if
everybody in the world who has an OSM account can edit it at will.

With regards,
Svavar Kjarrval

On 17/01/13 22:18, Johan C wrote:
> Give them the suggestion to use Openstreetmap as their database, since
> that's the cheapest platform for the Icelandic taxpayer, the uptime is
> almost 100%, it's flexible, Icelandic citizens and government can
> cooperate to get the best map possible, it's open and available to
> anyone.
>
> Cheers, Johan
>
> 2013/1/17 Alex Barth <alex at mapbox.com <mailto:alex at mapbox.com>>
>
>     Ugh. Like you're saying, this is clearly not a good "open" policy.
>     Does Iceland or any involved politicians have ambitions to join
>     the Open Government Partnership? This might be an angle.
>
>     Maybe worthwhile to put in an official notice by the OSMF that
>     this law would hurt volunteer contributed geo data projects like OSM?
>
>     Also, Pakistan comes to mind:
>     http://dawn.com/2012/11/21/pakistanis-lost-without-maps/
>
>     On Jan 17, 2013, at 12:46 PM, Svavar Kjarrval <svavar at kjarrval.is
>     <mailto:svavar at kjarrval.is>> wrote:
>
>     > Hi.
>     >
>     > There is a bill (in the meaning of 'proposed law') in the Icelandic
>     > parliament regarding nature protection that worries me. The bill
>     states
>     > that the National Land Survey of Iceland is supposed to create a
>     > database of roads and road tracks and it should be free (as in
>     cost) and
>     > "available" (nothing prevents terms being set for distribution).
>     That's
>     > not what worries me since free (as in freedom) data is excellent.
>     >
>     > It further states that all maps distributed in Iceland have to
>     conform
>     > to the database mentioned above, or The Environment Agency of
>     Iceland
>     > can invoke daily fines on whoever distributes a database that
>     doesn't
>     > conform to this standard. This requirement is put on everybody,
>     not just
>     > those who get a copy of said database. By definition, it's
>     impossible to
>     > ensure that the OSM database conforms to this standard at all times
>     > since the database can always be freely downloaded and edited.
>     It could
>     > also restrict people in Iceland that would like to legally
>     distribute
>     > OSM maps and data since they'd have a hard time being sure that the
>     > requirement is fulfilled in their copy of the database.
>     >
>     > The bill is under review by a parliamentary committee and I'd
>     like to
>     > send it a review under my name. I would like some pointers of what I
>     > should mention in the review to convince them to drop that
>     requirement.
>     > If you'd like, I could provide a rough translation of the
>     corresponding
>     > article in the bill.
>     >
>     > With regards,
>     > Svavar Kjarrval
>     >
>     > _______________________________________________
>     > legal-talk mailing list
>     > legal-talk at openstreetmap.org <mailto:legal-talk at openstreetmap.org>
>     > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk
>
>     Alex Barth
>     http://twitter.com/lxbarth
>     tel (+1) 202 250 3633 <tel:%28%2B1%29%20202%20250%203633>
>
>
>
>
>
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