[OSM-talk] OSMF: The people you are going to hand over your OSM data ...

[Matt Amos]

On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 1:55 PM, 80n <80n80n at gmail.com> wrote:
> If the value of OSM data ever gets very near the value of map data owned by
> companies like Navteq and Teleatlas then OSMF becomes a very tempting
> target.  The safeguards that have been put in place (a vote of the OSMF
> membership and recent contributors) would be very easy to circumvent.

they would have to first gain a majority of the OSMF members, which
would take a lot of resources but i guess it's doable. but then they'd
*further* need to gain a majority of active contributors, which would
mean they'd need to find a majority of contributors editing in three
out of the last six months. given that this number appears to be in
the region of 70,000 mappers at the moment, and will presumably grow
over time, i think this is too much effort even for a large mapping
company.

but, let's be constructive instead; what do you think would be an
adequate safeguard while still allowing the license to change in
response to community needs?

> There's no safeguard, for example, that prevents the OSMF from changing the
> Contributor Terms.  They can do that at any point in the future without any
> kind of vote or other formality.  That's a pretty big hole in itself ....

the funny thing is, OSMF can't change the contributor terms once
you've signed it. it's a contract between you and OSMF which follows
the usual rule - it can only be amended by a further agreement in
writing signed by both parties. so, no. OSMF can't change the
contributor terms for existing contributors.

cheers,

matt