[OSM-legal-talk] Response regarding use of PSMA Administrative Boundaries (Australia)

[cleary]

The issue of using the Australian PSMA Administrative Boundaries in OSM
was discussed in both talk-au and legal-talk lists.  Subsequently I
submitted a request to the Spatial Unit, Department of Prime Minister
and Cabinet, seeking permission and stating the issues as clearly as I
could.  Today I received the following response with my initial request
shown below.

It explicitly states we are not responsible for the actions of
downstream users  but I think we need the legal-talk group to clarify if
the response helps us.  For this reason, this response is being
submitted to both lists.



----- Original message -----
From: Spatial <Spatial at pmc.gov.au>
To: "osm at 97k.com" <osm at 97k.com>
Cc: Spatial <Spatial at pmc.gov.au>
Subject: RE: Permission for OpenStreetMap to use PSMA Administrative
Boundaries [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2016 00:19:27 +0000

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Michael

Thank you for your email seeking clarification about the licensing
conditions regarding the PSMA Administrative Boundaries dataset.

Given the large volume of public datasets available via data.gov.au
(over 8,200 datasets), we are unable to provide statements with explicit
permission for use to individual users.

However, we can provide some clarification regarding your concerns. 

There are no substantial differences between the CC BY 3.0 and the CC BY
4.0 licences. A summary of the differences can be found here:
https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-considerations/version4/. 
CC BY 4.0 (like CC BY 3.0) does not prevent OpenStreetMap from applying
your own licence to your products but requires end users to comply with
the CC BY licence (in relation to the original data).

The preferred attribution for adapted material using the PSMA
Administrative Boundaries dataset is:

Incorporates or developed using Administrative Boundaries (c)PSMA
Australia Limited licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).

We can also confirm that OpenStreetMap is not responsible for the
actions of your downstream users. Given the nature of the CC BY licence,
your downstream users directly licence the Administrative Boundaries
data from the Commonwealth. Provided that OpenStreetMap comply with the
licence, then any breach by third parties leads to automatic termination
of that third party's rights to use the material and does not impact
OpenStreetMap's licence.

I trust this information has been of assistance.

Kind regards,

Spatial Policy team


-----Original Message-----
From: cleary [mailto:osm at 97k.com]
Sent: Thursday, 30 June 2016 6:08 PM
To: Spatial
Subject: Permission for OpenStreetMap to use PSMA Administrative
Boundaries



I am a volunteer contributor to OpenStreetMap (OSM)
(www.openstreetmap.org) which provides a map, based on open data, for
use by anyone who wishes to access it. I understand that OpenStreetMap
is the largest open data map project in the world. Various bodies,
including some Government organisations, are increasingly using OSM and
I was pleased to note that some pages on the data.gov.au website are
using OSM.

Approximately five years ago, OSM was given explicit permission to
incorporate data from Australian Government public information datasets
which had been published under CC-BY-2.5 and CC-BY-3.0 licences. The
explicit permission allowed OSM to incorporate and publish these CC-BY
licensed geographic coordinate datasets under a free and open license,
including the Open Database License, provided that attribution was made
in the Contributors page of the OpenStreetMap Wiki
(http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors) including each dataset
being identified with specified informaton. (See
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Attribution/data.gov.au_explicit_permission)

I write now to request extension of permission to include the PSMA
Administrative Boundaries.

It is perceived that issues which may require clarification in regard to
the PSMA Administrative Boundaries are:

1. The PSMA Administrative Boundaries are provided under a CC-BY-4.0
licence, not the earlier licences previously specified.
2. The explicit permission that OSM received was for data released
directly by the Australian Government, and it is unclear if that would
apply to data that which has been licensed from third parties for
distribution, which seems to be the case with the PSMA boundaries.
3. There is a requirement that the data may be used only in ways that
are consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. OSM does not
collect or use personal information about identifiable individuals but
it cannot guarantee how downstream users might use data published by OSM
under a free and open licence. If downstream users of OSM are a concern,
would it be possible for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet or
PSMA to identify which datasets are problematic in this regard and
exclude them, while granting OSM permission to use datasets which would
not provide any cause for concern in regard to the Privacy Principles?

On behalf of OSM, I request that you provide a further statement which
can be published in the OSM wiki, specifying which datasets from the
PSMA Administrative Boundaries may be incorporated into OSM, and stating
that credit on the Contributors page of the OSM wiki is sufficient to
fulfil attribution requirements including downstream use in works
derived from OSM. 

If you require clarification of this request, I would be pleased to
speak with a Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet or PSMA
representative by phone or provide further information by email if that
is preferred.


Michael Cleary
(personal contact details deleted from this reproduction of original)