[okfn-discuss] Open Data Commons Database licence (draft) now out

Mon Oct 1 10:41:22 UTC 2007

Jordan Hatcher's lists wrote:
> On 27 Sep 2007, at 16:53, Jordan Hatcher's lists wrote:
>> On 27 Sep 2007, at 13:15, Rufus Pollock wrote:
>>> 3. Making available derivative works
>>>
>>> Similar to the previous point I also think one might want to make
>>> explicit that one cannot restrict access to the data by providing
>>> some form of limited interface (this might best go in s4.6). For
>>> example someone might make a derivative DB but put it behind a
>>> search form that only allowed people a limited query rate. Thus I
>>> think it might be worthwhile to have something related to the
>>> 'Access' provision (no 1) of the OKD which states:
>>>
>>> "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."
>>>
>>> (obviously this can't apply to the work being licensed but it can
>>> be used as part of the share-alike provision to affect the
>>> behaviour of those making derivative works).
>>>
>>> ~rufus
>> I'll have to have a think about this one a bit more.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> ~Jordan
> 
> 
> Thought about it a bit more. I wonder if there are some practical 
> problems for such a clause, especially with really large databases. 
> Isn't a limited query rate necessary in some circumstances? If so, and 
> it is a requirement that the database be available for download, isn't 
> that a pretty big burden for really large databases?

It could be so I'm not saying that d/l should be at some arbitrary high 
speed but just that a dump should be available and should be feasibly 
downloadable (even if takes a week ...). If d/l really is a problem they 
could also use bittorrent or similar protocols for distributing load.

> I would be interested to hear from anyone with a web services or 
> technical background about what to watch out for in any restrictions on 
> how (or if) the DB must be made available.

I too would be interested to hear. I have to say I would imagine that 
providing a compressed DB dump which people could download at some 
specified rate was substantially *less* burdensome than providing a 
heavily used web api to your DB.

~rufus