[OSM-talk] About my stubbornness

[Wollschaf]

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:20:09 +0100, Nick Black wrote:

> No, this would threaten all the work as the publisher must take all
> precautions to prevent the breach of copyright.  Ignorance is not an
> excuse and all that.

OSM has to take all precautions, yes. Should OSM cease to exist, what will
happen to the data if the editing history / user information is lost? 

The basic question is: are gpx tracklogs enough proof that the data was
not copied? Will an editing history make our case stronger?

As anybody can create as many accounts as he wants, a suing company could
still claim there might be data from that user hidden somewhere. Is there
a difference to not having the origin of the data?

I don't really understand lawyers.

>> Will the judge have enough knowledge to understand what all that
>> computer technology is about? (Some don't, that's for sure).
> 
> This is a risky strategy to pursue.  I'm sure the prosecuting lawyers
> would make the judge understand.

I'm sure of that, too. Talk of a _huge_ financial loss etc, and the case
is settled even if there was none in the first place. If there's a lot of
money involved, it is more likely that a company wins than OSM. I didn't
think of it as a strategy, rather as a risk.

Wollschaf