[OSM-talk] Apologies

[Lars Aronsson]

Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> Er, Steve said that things like what I had done were not 
> encouraged, because of the legal issues with Google Maps. 
> Perhaps I misunderstood something here.

Sometimes Steve uses fewer words than are needed to explain 
something.  You shouldn't conclude too much from a few words, 
instead you need to ask again.

That apart, I must admit I don't really understand the fear of 
copyright contamination from derived data.  I'm much more in 
favour of doing everything we can get away with.  And it's not 
like I'm new to copyrights.  I've been putting old books online 
since 1992.  In anything you do, you should know your enemy, their 
strength and their weakness.  Make it hard and pointless for them 
to take action against you, and they will avoid it.  However, all 
my activities within OSM follow Steve's recommendations.

Aren't there any private mapping companies (in Britain or 
elsewhere) that have gone out of business?  Even if the copyright 
hasn't expired, there might be no-one left to defend it.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se