[talk-au] Reassurance and Licensing

[Ian Sergeant]

On 4/05/2011 5:18 PM, David Murn wrote:
> Well, I have yet to hear any Australians complain about the freedom of
> the data, other than being incompatible with the new one-of-a-kind
> licence that OSM is wanting to use.

I'm not objecting to freedom of data.  The comment I objected to is
the one that said if it is good enough for the Australian government,
then it must be good enough for all Australians, with no need to
examine it further.  That may be valid as someone's opinion, but to
say it is the opinion of all Australians is just plainly false.  I
always thought that in Australia we question our government's
decisions, we don't always accept what they are doing is in the
national best interest.  We challenge, we ask questions, and we push
for change when it is needed.  We look at what others are doing
overseas, and see if they are doing things better or worse.

> ...  I always assumed that it was groups like google, yahoo, bing
> and the like that we were trying to be more open than, not those who
> actually opened access to their data.

I'm sure, again, that there exists a considerable variety of opinions
on this.  I'm sure your assumptions are as valid as many others.

> What legal expertise do you have which you believes makes you think
> youve found problems that the government copyright lawyers didnt with
> the licence they chose?  Do you also disagree with the licence that OSM
> has been distributed under for the past 5 years?  After all, it is the
> same licence the Australian government (and apparently now NZ
> government) are using, and will continue to use.

I'm sure they have considered the available licensing options, and
given the current state of the law and licensing have given it their
best shot.  The government has a different decision making basis to
what OSM does.  Maybe ultimately they align, maybe they don't.   I'm
not sure.  This is not a settled area of law in Australia, despite
what some on this list would say.  I'm sure the lawyers are making the
best decisions they can with the precedents they have to work with.
There is no doubt that overseas jurisdictions which share a common
thread with Australian common law have had to enact new laws to try
and secure protection for information of this type.

I'm not arguing for any particular licencing outcome.  If you want to
have that discussion, I'm sure you can find someone who feels more
strongly on the issue than I do.

Ian.