[OSM-talk] Explaining to NASA why the ASTER data should be freely licensed

[Paul Houle]

Jeffrey Ollie wrote:
> Ævar, thanks for taking point on this...  These sort of licensing
> issues are an annoying, but necessary part of our work and not
> everyone has the stomach for it.  I myself have run into the issue
> locally... There's nearby county that has very high resolution aerial
> images but the standard licensing terms that they offer them under
> would make it impossible for me to use with OSM.  That plus the fact
> that they would charge me a lot of money for copies of the images has
> made me decide not to even bother.
>
>   
    Perhaps I'm assuming something that's not true,  but there may be a 
national security kind of issue here too.  I've seen very similar 
licenses on,  for instance,  neutronic simulation codes for nuclear 
reactors.  The design of the license is to (i) sound very open,  (ii) 
make it so that the "right people" can get the product easily,  but 
(iii) the product can be denied to anyone that that the owners want to 
deny it to without having to give a honest reason.

    Of course,  for all I know,  North Korean tanks already have Tom 
Toms loaded with pirate versions of the latest commercial maps of S. Korea.