[okfn-discuss] License for GroupsNearYou

Thu Mar 6 07:10:00 UTC 2008

For pure data, the term license (in the sense of using a right to restrict 
usage - IP title for instance - to create a commons) is not adapted. In 
Europe, the Database protection directive has created proprietary rights on 
collection of data that do not meet the standard for copyright, and some have 
suggested to use them for open licenses, but I think it is a very bad idea to 
legitimate these absurd restrictive rights.

This was one of the reasons that led me to work on a direct positive 
recognition of protected commons where instead of using licenses, people 
could say "I donate this to the commons", and possibly attach a number of 
conditions provided they do not defeat the very idea of a universal commons. 
Obtaining this recognition in international norm setting arenas is a long 
process. So meanwhile one has to look for guidelines or ofther contractual 
arrangements rather than licenses.

Look at Science Commons (www.sciencecommons.org) for some of these  : 
scientific communities often have similar problems to yours : they produce 
pure data, generally attached with metadata, and often associated with some 
sensitive usage (for instance for personal biological data). In particular, 
you may find some inspiration in the HapMap directives :
The Responsible Use and Publication of HapMap Data
http://www.hapmap.org/guidelines_hapmap_data.html.en

Best,

Philippe Aigrain

Le Thursday 06 March 2008 00:21:29 Francis Irving, vous avez écrit :
> What license should we be licensing the data on GroupsNearYou under?
>
> http://www.groupsnearyou.com/api
>
> What licenses for basically pure data, with a tiny bit of copyright in
> the descriptions, are suitable these days?
>
> Francis
>
> _______________________________________________
> okfn-discuss mailing list
> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss

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Philippe Aigrain
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Tel: +33 1 55 28 37 65 - Fax: +33 1 55 28 37 69
philippe.aigrain at sopinspace.com, www.sopinspace.com
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