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

Wed Mar 4 02:23:35 UTC 2015

Thanks Tariq.
H

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 6:22 PM, Tariq Khokhar <tariq at khokhar.net> wrote:

> 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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>>> https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/od-discuss
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Diane M. Peters
>>>
>>> General Counsel, Creative Commons
>>>
>>> Portland, Oregon
>>>
>>> http://creativecommons.org/staff#dianepeters
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/od-discuss
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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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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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