[od-discuss] Open Data Buttons

Thu Mar 8 17:27:05 UTC 2012

On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 9:19 AM, Mike Linksvayer <ml at creativecommons.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 9:07 AM, Laura Newman <laura.newman at okfn.org> wrote:
>> I have recently been asked what the precise legal situation is with our Open
>> Data / Open Content / Open Knowledge buttons. Do they imply CC-BY? CC-BY-SA?
>> Or are they non-specific?
>>
>> For example, if someone were to publish a CC-BY article and include an image
>> with one of our buttons inserted in the bottom corner, what precisely would
>> that mean? In what way would that be different from displaying a Creative
>> Commons logo?
>
> It would be meaningless, or nearly so (many people have said "this is
> open" or similar without providing an actual license; I don't know
> that reliance on such has ever been tested, perhaps because projects
> that are important end up providing a license because enough people
> tell them they need to...). This is one reason why CC has avoided or
> suppressed offering various non-license logos (in particular one for
> OER oft requested), and moved away from CC/"some rights reserved" to
> specific license logos, because offering a specific license is what
> matters.
>
> Wherever the Open stuff buttons are offered should note that they must
> be accompanied by offer of an OKD-compliant license, and that they do
> not constitute license notice when using another's work under an
> OKD-compliant license.

I guess that'd be http://opendefinition.org/buttons/ which sadly
doesn't explain any of the above.

Also, it appears the OKD site is not itself OK. It really ought to
additionally be an OSS, but I see no evidence of such.

Mike