[od-discuss] New IMF license for data re-use

Wed Mar 4 02:22:28 UTC 2015

Herb, I'll point a colleague at the IMF to this thread's archive at:
https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/2015-January/001224.html
tomorrow and invite them to chip in if they'd like to. Cheers, Tariq

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 9:08 PM, Herb Lainchbury <herb at dynamic-solutions.com>
wrote:

> Does anyone on the list have a direct contact with someone at the IMF?  I
> would like to see if there is someone at the IMF that might join us to
> discuss this.
>
> Herb
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 10:03 AM, Anders Pedersen <anderspeders at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Andrew, all,
>>
>> Just wanted to add a big +1 to the suggestion of a blog post with a
>> response re. the limitations and issues with the IMF-license. I am not a
>> license expert, but would be glad to contribute if useful.
>>
>> Best,
>> Anders
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jan 21, 2015, at 10:38 AM, Andrew Stott <andrew.stott at dirdigeng.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Christine Lagarde announced on 18 November that all IMF online data would
>> “free of charge to everyone” [1].  A number of us asked at the time whether
>> it would be “open” [2].
>>
>>
>>
>> The IMF terms and conditions [3] are a bit confusing. For instance it’s
>> not clear whether the “personal, non-commercial usage” section applies to
>> the “special terms and conditions pertaining to the use of data” section –
>> Diane implies that reads it as excluding commercial usage, but the “special
>> terms” does say “Notwithstanding the general prohibition on the commercial
>> use of IMF content, Users may … sell Data obtained from IMF sites, subject
>> to …” In addition Lagarde said “to everyone”, which must mean commercial as
>> well as non-commercial users.
>>
>>
>>
>> My read is that the policy intention is probably free as in “libre” as
>> well as “gratuit” but that they have fallen into the trap of trying to
>> write their own licence.
>>
>>
>>
>> The point about telling customers they could get the data free from the
>> original source is one that has occurred in conversations I have had with a
>> number of governments. It’s partially fixable by the right form of
>> attribution statement.
>>
>> I don’t think that there is much point in going through the compliance
>> process unless they ask. Instead I would have thought that we (OKFN, with
>> OD Advisory Council leading) should write a public letter to Lagarde with
>> an accompanying blog post and media promotion. To me this would be along
>> the lines of:
>>
>>
>>
>> * applaud your move to make your data free. Immensely valuable to have
>> your high-quality global data available for everyone to use without
>> restriction.
>>
>> * to maximise the global value of this treasure, it is important that it
>> is truly “Open Data” and not just free of charge. Point to open definition.
>>
>> * unfortunately IMF not quite there yet.
>>
>> * a number of issues in the text
>>
>> * however the best course would be for the IMF not to try and maintain
>> its own licence but to use an existing, globally recognised and expertly
>> maintained licence.
>>
>> * we’d urge IMF to adopt Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 – a number of
>> specific provisions in the IMF’s Special Terms can be met by the provisions
>> within CC-BY, and we would be delighted to help the IMF’s team do so.
>>
>> * finally while it’s great that you have made your data free available;
>> we would of course hope that more of your publicly available content
>> including reports will be made available on ‘open’ terms as well.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>
>>
>> [1] https://twitter.com/Lagarde/status/534715250927759361
>>
>> [2] https://twitter.com/DirDigEng/status/535027925314437120
>>
>> [3] http://www.imf.org/external/terms.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* od-discuss [mailto:od-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
>> <od-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org>] *On Behalf Of *Herb Lainchbury
>> *Sent:* 21 January 2015 06:47
>> *To:* Rufus Pollock
>> *Cc:* od-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>> *Subject:* Re: [od-discuss] New IMF license for data re-use
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't know if we have a process for this or if we're tracking any
>> licenses in this way, but it's a good idea.
>>
>>
>>
>> We do have our license approval process
>> <http://opendefinition.org/licenses/process/>, but I don't think that's
>> what you're referring to.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.
>>
>>
>>
>> Based on these terms alone, there doesn't appear to be any intention on
>> the part of the IMF to have the data they are publishing be considered open.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 9:57 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> +1 to Diane's comments here - it really seems the IMF are undermining the
>> excellent "spirit" with the "letter" of their license. I think this
>> definitely could be problematic in terms of OD compliance so worth a proper
>> evaluation.
>>
>>
>>
>> @Herb / Mike: is proper process here to open an issue (
>> https://github.com/okfn/opendefinition/issues) in order to track this?
>>
>>
>>
>> Rufus
>>
>>
>>
>> On 20 January 2015 at 17:17, Diane Peters <diane at creativecommons.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Unfortunate they haven't adopted a policy similar to that used by World
>> Bank for data, which is one of the best I've seen from an IGO so far,
>> though they do have this provision:  "The World Bank will prosecute, to
>> the fullest extent of the law, any use of World Bank Materials in a manner
>> that falsifies, misrepresents, disparages or fraudulently uses the
>> Materials."
>>
>>
>>
>> Here, the noncommercial limitation, "accuracy" requirement, and the vague
>> requirement to use reasonable efforts to promote compliance by third
>> parties are the more problematic clauses IMO.
>>
>>
>>
>> For reference:
>>
>> WB terms of use summary for data:
>> http://data.worldbank.org/summary-terms-of-use
>>
>> In full:
>> http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/0,,contentMDK:22547097~pagePK:50016803~piPK:50016805~theSitePK:13,00.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 2:50 PM, Anders Pedersen <anderspeders at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>>
>>
>> In december IMF announced that they would release their data openly.
>>
>>
>>
>> They have now release a Special Terms section on use of their data. I
>> would be interested to hear the views here of the list?
>>
>>
>>
>> Full section here (relevant section pasted below):
>>
>> http://www.imf.org/external/terms.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> On a side note, NRGI has argued that the fiscal models at IMF
>> <http://www.resourcegovernance.org/news/blog/modeling-masses-why-imf-should-open-fari-model-public-use>
>> should be opened as well, though until we've had no luck with that.
>>
>>
>>
>> Below the Special Terms on data:
>> SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS PERTAINING TO THE USE OF DATA
>>
>> Use of published statistical data which is made available through the IMF
>> Sites shall be subject to the following special terms. For the purposes of
>> these special terms, the term “Data” refers to any published statistical
>> data produced by the IMF, that is not owned by a third-party. In
>> particular, “Data” refers to the following:
>>
>> ·      IMF E-library Data, including but not limited to, International
>> Financial Statistics (IFS), Balance of Payments (BOP), Direction of Trade
>> (DOT) and Government Finance Statistics (GFS) (
>> http://elibrary-data.imf.org/DataExplorer.aspx);
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      World Economic Outlook database (
>> http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/02/weodata/index.aspx);
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      Primary Commodity Prices (
>> http://www.imf.org/external/np/res/commod/index.aspx);
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      IMF Financial Data (http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm#financial
>> );
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      Exchange Rate Data (http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm#exchange);
>> and
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      And any other statistical data available on www.imf.org that
>> explicitly identify the International Monetary Fund as the source.
>>
>> The policy of free access and free reuse does not imply a right to obtain
>> confidential or any unpublished underlying data over which the IMF reserves
>> all rights. Notwithstanding the general prohibition on the commercial use
>> of IMF content, Users may download, extract, copy, create derivative works,
>> publish, distribute and sell Data obtained from IMF Sites, subject to the
>> following conditions:
>>
>> ·      When Data is distributed or reproduced, it must appear accurately
>> and attributed to the IMF as the source, e.g. “Source: International
>> Monetary Fund.”. This source attribution requirement is attached to any use
>> of IMF Data, whether obtained directly from the IMF or from a User. Users
>> who make IMF Data available to other users through any type of distribution
>> or download environment agree to take reasonable efforts to communicate and
>> promote compliance by their End Users with these terms.
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      The Data is provided to Users “as is” and without warranty of any
>> kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, warranties
>> of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      If IMF Data is sold by Users as a standalone product; sellers
>> must inform purchasers that the Data is available free of charge from the
>> IMF.
>>
>>
>>
>> ·      Users shall not infringe upon the integrity of the Data and in
>> particular shall refrain from any act of alteration of the Data that
>> intentionally affects its nature or accuracy. If the Data is materially
>> transformed by the User, this must be stated explicitly along with the
>> required source citation.
>>
>> All other terms set forth in the general terms and conditions shall
>> continue to apply to use of IMF Data.
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Diane M. Peters
>>
>> General Counsel, Creative Commons
>>
>> Portland, Oregon
>>
>> http://creativecommons.org/staff#dianepeters
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rufus Pollock
>>
>> Founder and President | skype: rufuspollock | @rufuspollock
>> <https://twitter.com/rufuspollock>
>>
>> Open Knowledge <http://okfn.org/> - s*ee how data can change the world*
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Herb Lainchbury, Dynamic Solutions
>>
>> 250.704.6154
>>
>> http://www.dynamic-solutions.com
>>
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>
>
> --
>
> Herb Lainchbury, Dynamic Solutions
> 250.704.6154
> http://www.dynamic-solutions.com
>
>
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