[od-discuss] Fwd: [open-government] Open Data license in the Kenya Open Data Portal

Tue Feb 5 15:33:26 UTC 2013

FYI - an important and relevant thread from the open-government mailing list

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
Date: 5 February 2013 15:33
Subject: Re: [open-government] Open Data license in the Kenya Open Data
Portal
To: Michelle Alves de Lima <alvesdelima at un.org>
Cc: "open-government at lists.okfn.org" <open-government at lists.okfn.org>, Mike
Linksvayer <ml at gondwanaland.com>

Hi Michelle,

The openness of the Kenyan Open Data portal has been extensively discussed
both by this working group and more specifically by the  Open Definition
Advisory Council <http://opendefinition.org/advisory-council/> (the issue
originally being raised by Ory Okolloh)

It was concluded based on those discussions that the license is *not *open
(not open definition conformant) due to possible restrictions on commercial
use. Specifically, non-conformance was discussed and agreed at the March
2012 meeting of the Open Definition Advisory
Council<http://opendefinition.org/2012/03/24/notes-from-advisory-panel-meeting-march-2012/>
following
previous discussion on list (see e.g. [1])

[1]: http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/2011-November/000070.html

Notice was sent in August but no response has been received (we have
emailed twice since) (see forwarded email sent
http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/2012-December/000223.html).

This information was discussed at the join Open Definition / Open
Government Data Working group call on the 6th September 2012, see the
minutes posted here:

http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-government/2012-September/002314.html

All this being said it seems reasonably clear (see other contributions to
this thread) that the *intent* is for the data to be fully open. The issue
being that the previous license language does not make this clear.

What is interesting is that they now seem to have 2 sets of terms of
service:

1. https://opendata.go.ke/page/terms-of-service (cited by Tariq and what
was originally available)

This still has the old language:

"no restrictions to the non-commercial reproduction, re-publication and
re-distribution of any information published on its website"

2. https://opendata.go.ke/terms-of-service (cited by Ton)

Which modifies the original language to include commercial (perhaps
suggesting an update in response to the feedback we sent):

"no restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial reproduction,
re-publication and re-distribution of any information published on its
website"

What this highlights is potentially the need for archiving and tracking
terms of use over time on Open Data portal sites - something which the Open
Definition group has already been discussion. Thoughts on the value of this
would be very welcome.

Regards,

Rufus Pollock

On 4 February 2013 20:10, Michelle Alves de Lima <alvesdelima at un.org> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> We are trying to find out if the Kenya Open Data Portal (
> https://opendata.go.ke/) has open data license. How can we get more
> information about this?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Michelle
>
>   <http://www.unpan.org/> *Ms. Michelle Alves de Lima*
> *UNPAN Management Unit
> Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)
> United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)
> Phone: +1 (212) 963-3224 **/** Fax: +1 (212) 963-9681*
> *E-mail: alvesdelima at un.org*
> *Web: **www.unpan.org* <http://www.unpan.org/>
>
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