[od-discuss] Göteborg city's open data license

Wed Sep 11 12:51:35 UTC 2013

Hello list,

I hope this list is the right place to ask and I'd be glad to be
pointed to the correct place to ask if it is not.

I'd like to hear what you think about the Swedish city Göteborg's
license for its open data[1].

Does it, in your opinion, comply with the Open Definition?

The license text is short and concise, four pages briefly worded.

There are some passages that caught my attention:

"[...]you must also:
[...]
* Make sure that you don’t mislead or discredit the Data or it’s sources.
[...]
These conditions are important for licensing, and if you break them,
your right to continued
access to services as well as collection of both new and archived data
under this Agreement
immediately terminates. You will be able to continue using data
already retrieved.
The Data Provider has the right to deny You, and your services,
continued Collection of the
Data both new and archived."

I'd appreciate any comments and thoughts. The reason I'm asking is
that questions on which license to pick for publishing data is often
discussed, as is the definition of what constitutes open data, and
what does not, here in Sweden. There are two strategies for licenses
we've seen in Sweden. One: Create your own license. Two: Use an
international and accepted standard license (e.g. a CC license) - but
which one to pick and for what reason is not yet a de facto standard
here, although there are some guidelines and recommendations
available.

You opinions on this instance of a homemade license would be greatly
helpful and valuable in this discussion.

Thanks in advance and,

Kind regards

Rikard Fröberg

1. http://gbgdata.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/avtal-goopen-1-3-0-copy-eng.pdf

-- 
Rikard Fröberg, Rådgivare offentlig sektor
Morus konsult AB | http://morus.se | rikard at morus.se
0700 - 90 69 64  | 031 385 88 93