[OSM-talk] copyright problem with data copied from a map

[Morten Kjeldgaard]

Renaud MICHEL wrote:

> I replied one week ago explaining why he must not do that and asking him to 
> remove all the edits he made based on that map, but had no more answer so 
> far.
> So now I'm thinking about removing those edits myself, but am not sure 
> what's the best way to do so.
> 
> I don't know if the changeset can be reverted, as there are many of them, 
> and I also did some edits there (changeset #1997354 #2005715 #2046924 a 
> least) before knowing of the copyright problem.
> 
> Any advice?
> I think I'm going to remove all this "by hand" with JOSM.
> But the ways will still be present in the DB with the history. Can we do 
> something about this?

It is best to continue trying to educate mappers about the problems of
copyright. I know from experience (working with Ubuntu) that it takes a lot
of effort, but eventually you get there. Copyright is complicated, and also
not logical, so sometimes it's better to err on the side of caution.

Educating mappers so they fully understand the free-and-open principles
means that they in turn can teach others, and everyone saves time in the end.

Throwing the book at this fellow is too harsh at this point. You can email
him and politely ask if he wants to put the roads back on the GPS trace, or
you will do it. Convince him to get a GPS and start collecting data. Tell
him it's fun.

Cheers,
Morten