[Osmf-talk] Taking a stand against EU directive "Copyright in the Digital Single Market" (upload filters etc.)

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2018-09-06 13:47, Michael Reichert wrote:
> I don't want to keep the downside secret as it has already been
> discussed on the German OSM forum. Showing black tiles on third-party
> websites can be perceived by their operators as an intervention into
> their website. They will not like it when the always neutral, reliable
> and free of charge tile provider inserts political statements into their
> site. However, they should keep in mind that they use a free service and
> that we have to defend our project and our idea of a free and open
> collaborative map to be able to provide this service in future. Given
> that there are multiple tile providers and the tile server of FOSSGIS
> e.V. uses an open source map style, the board of FOSSGIS e.V. decided to
> show the black tiles even if it could drive away some users.

An alternative approach would be for osm.org’s Leaflet code to 
temporarily add a black polygon over Europe or -- as in the German map 
-- every tenth tile. [1] This would affect osm.org but not any other 
sites using the tile server. The benefit over modifying the tiles 
server-side is that clicking the black polygon could reveal the hidden 
content and open a new tab with information on contacting an MEP. It can 
also be localized into the main EU languages. The message would thus be 
more actionable and user-friendly.

> On the other hand, any banner can be hidden by adblockers, a problem we
> already face with our promotional banners for conferences and donation
> drives on openstreetmap.org. If a tile server responds with an
> "advertisement", the ad blocker has no chance to replace it with a real
> map. It can only hide it and leave a grey/rose gap.

True, that would be quite a difficult message to hide. But if the black 
tiles are implemented client-side using Leaflet, I think it’d still be 
difficult for an ad blocker to accurately distinguish between these 
polygons and other polygons added by the data layer or on the page for a 
way. So an overzealous ad blocker would leave the site with reduced 
functionality anyways.

[1] https://leafletjs.com/reference-1.3.4.html#rectangle

-- 
Minh Nguyen <mxn at 1ec5.org>
Jabber: mxn at 1ec5.org; Blog: http://notes.1ec5.org/