[Osmf-talk] Share Alike images

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Matthias Urlichs wrote:
> On Di, 2009-12-08 at 06:10 +0100, Tobias Knerr wrote:
>> How can evil™ people stop us from creating free maps? It seems
>> that /not helping/ us is the worst they can do.
> 
> I disagree. I do the mapping work (a) because I want to (it's fun, it
> makes the world more free, etc.etc.), but also (b) because I benefit
> from the input of others just as much as they benefit from mine.
> 
> If (b) doesn't hold, e.g. because FredFred the navigator manufacturer
> integrates _my_ updates into their map and then expects _me_ to pay them
> to be able to actually use that data on their devices, my motivation to
> continue doing so _will_ reach an all-time low.

So your argument is basically that while evil people could not 
effectively take data away from a PD licensed project, they could use 
the data in ways not compatible with the personal preferences of 
individual mappers, thereby discouraging them from further contribution, 
and thereby then reducing the growth of the project, did I get that right?

If so, this risk (data being used against personal preferences of 
individual) exists with almost any license. For example, I should not be 
surprised if some mappers were discouraged from further contributions if 
it should turn out that OSM maps are used by oppressive governments or 
in warfare. Both uses are not prohibited by any of the licenses under 
discussion, yet increasingly likely with growing coverage and quality.

Any license carries the danger of not disallowing something an 
individual might want disallowed, and thereby making that individual 
like the project less or even stop contributing. (And I'm not even sure 
whether the number of people who would dislike OSM used for war is 
smaller than the number of people who would dislike FredFred using OSM 
without freeing up their device updates.)

Not that oppressive governments would care for us telling them not to 
use our data ;-)

Bye
Frederik