[Osmf-talk] [OSM-talk] Candidate's views? Re: Board decision on Crimea complaint

John Gilmore gnu at toad.com
Tue Dec 11 22:13:41 UTC 2018


Oleksiy Muzalyev <oleksiy.muzalyev at bluewin.ch> wrote:
> I would like to point out that in Ukraine displaying a map without
> Crimea is illegal, article 110, part 1, of the Penal code. It involves
> from 3 to 5 years of imprisonment [1]. So the OSM map without Crimea
> is becoming potentially unusable for the community in Ukraine.

I don't think that the global OSM community should make accommodations
for countries that explicitly outlaw freedom of geographic information.
We stand for freedom, globally.  Building OSM has been an immense amount
of work.  We did that work because the alternatives were to use maps
that did not come with freedom for their users.  Ours does.  We should
keep it that way, not self-censor it.

Does the Ukraine not have courts that work?  Do they not have the
fundamental right of the people to receive and convey information,
whether it's correct, incorrect, or politically incorrect information?
Did the Ukraine not formally ratify the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights on November 12, 1973?  Has their legislature
foolishly attempted to outlaw the discussion of history, which includes
many countries that no longer exist and many borders that have moved?

I have no position on what the formal or informal status of Crimea
is or might be.  I live thousands of miles away.  I just know that
kowtowing to despots who violate fundamental human rights is not a
useful tactic for a global effort to create human freedom.  So, I
would argue for including whatever information is useful to its
users into OSM, regardless of what local laws purport to require.

	John Gilmore
	



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