[Osmf-talk] Share Alike images
Richard Fairhurst
richard at systemeD.net
Mon Dec 7 23:18:37 UTC 2009
Frederik Ramm wrote:
> I think that the license working group has found the best share-alike
> license that we could use, and that they have done this job diligently
> and based on facts and lots of consultation. The initial premise, namely
> that it must be a share-alike license and nothing else will do, however
> has never been properly tested and is simply a "policy" or "ideology" issue.
I'd agree with pretty much everything you've said in this message, but I
wouldn't class the decision as ideology. Most of it is simply pragmatism.
As you say, there have long been some very outspoken share-alike
advocates both on the lists and elsewhere in OSM. A quick Google pointed
me to the same old arguments on the 'Openstreetmap' list in April 2005.
2005, for goodness' sake!
There is nothing - in theory - to stop you putting a non-share-alike
alternative forward, and attempting a grassroots relicensing. You'd have
to be a bit careful about not spamming the userbase, true, but you could
spread out from Karlsruhe or Charlbury or some other bastion of
permissiveness, message everyone in the history with a request to
relicense as PD or attribution-only, and see how far you got.
But, well, good luck with that. Like you, I personally prefer
PD/attribution-only; but I haven't got the energy to keep arguing after
4+ years of ad hominems. (Probably not the correct Latin plural). I
think the time when someone accused me of wanting to exploit OSMers so I
could build up my pension pot was probably the best. I am not making
this up.
No, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. In the space of a
couple of hours, this thread has seen the proposed relicensing
criticised for both being "protectionist" and, conversely, causing "poor
suckers [to] get nothing back". Minimum protection vs maximum
protection. How on earth can you reconcile that?
So even though I've long believed the majority would be happy with PD, I
understand absolutely why OSMF has only considered a share-alike
license. A proposed move to PD would make the last few days seem like a
storm in a teacup. No-one would want to put themselves through that.
cheers
Richard
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