[OSM-talk] License plan

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> There's three categories to consider relating to existing data.

> 1. People who have made edits and can't be contacted. 
> 2. People who don't like ODbL and withdraw their data. 
> 3. Large organisations. 

I have a fourth category to add:

4. People who don't dislike ODbL per se but dislike the manner in which 
it was brought about, and thus feel rushed/excluded. People who make 
sensible suggestions for improvement but see their suggestions brushed 
away or simply ignored because this would just delay the license release 
(which seems to be planned for 28th March), or people who have 
legitimate concerns and find them answered with an "I don't know" from 
the legal counsel and an "we'll press ahead anyway" from OSMF.

Having a proper process that takes our project members and their 
concerns seriously, rather than holding a gun to their heads and saying 
"agree to this license or go away", is not only important for keeping as 
much data as possible, it is also, in my eyes, a requirement of project 
ethics.

I can live with some data being lost. But I would like to avoid press 
headlines like "20% of OpenStreetMap members quit over license row / 
Disgruntled mappers say they feel ignored /  Fake SteveC: 'Crisis? What 
Crisis?'" - I think *that* kind of thing would hurt us more than having 
to redraw a few villages.

Bye
Frederik