[od-discuss] OD addendum proposal for dealing with ambiguous license exemptions

Tue Aug 13 11:12:41 UTC 2013

On the last call we discussed the fact that ambiguous and wide 
exemptions can pose a problematic barrier to openness, but this is not 
well-addressed by the Open Definition.  It seems to me that the matter 
really boils down to confusion over whether a licensee has been given 
access to a particular work or not.  A data portal can appear to grant 
rights to the material with one hand, while the license yanks these 
rights away with the other hand.

Thus, a small addendum to the Access principle (#1) might be a simple 
solution to filling this gap (proposed additions in bold):
1. Access
The work shall be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable 
reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without 
charge. The work must also be available in a convenient and modifiable 
form. *The work must be clearly presented as available under the license.*

Comment: This can be summarized as 'social' openness -- not only are you 
allowed to get the work but you can get it. 'As a whole' prevents the 
limitation of access by indirect means, for example by only allowing 
access to a few items of a database at a time (material should be 
available in bulk as necessary). Convenient and modifiable means that 
material should be machine readable (rather than, for example, just 
human readable). *'Clearly presented as available' means that both the 
license and the means of access are clear and unambiguous on which works 
the rights attach to.*

Comments, wording adjustments, or alternative proposals welcome. This 
addition is more to do with legal access and legal use than the present 
actual access, so another option would be to put something similar to 
the above in it's own section.

Kent

P.S. Unrelated, but should it be "downloadable", rather than 
"downloading", in the existing wording for this condition?
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