[OSM-talk] open data

[OJW]

On Wednesday 20 September 2006 15:50, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> But in this case, I don't think that OSM gains from insisting that the  
> finished map is shared alike - it loses out because it doesn't get the  
> waterways or contours.

I would be very disappointed to see an OSM map that I couldn't copy in a 
guidebook or leaflet.  Removing the copyleft protection of "-SA" means that 
we'll have failed to preserve the users' freedom to copy.

When someone uses a CC-BY-SA map in their products, then lots of good things 
happen:
* The publisher obviously benefits, from being able to easily download and use 
map data
* OSM benefits, as people who read the guidebook find out about OSM (and they 
learn in a very practical way the benefits of copyleft, as they have a map 
that they can copy)
* The mappers benefit, from knowing their work is being used to expand the 
Creative Commons, perhaps encouraging guidebooks, leaflets, or posters that 
are copyleft

I'm not convinced it benefits the publisher's competitor greatly.  Sure, they 
can copy your work and resell it. But only with a notice saying who wrote it.

Customer: "why does the front page of your guidebook say that you plagarised 
it from your competitor?"

Lawyer: "why does your map contain trademarks of the person you copied it 
from?"

Newspaper: "Company X today unveiled their latest series of leaflets, but 
smallprint reveals that they've been taking other peoples' work and passing 
it off as their own..."

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