[okfn-discuss] How important is the right to publish open data?

Sat Jul 6 23:16:21 UTC 2013

I agree with Rob. There should be a clear indication from the start. But question: What about US Govt data, that appears, at first glance, to be "open". 

"A United States government work is prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties. It is not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work."

but then later, it says 

"Copyright laws differ internationally. While a U.S. government work is not protectable under U.S. copyright laws, the work may be protected under the copyright laws of other jurisdictions when used in these jurisdictions. The U.S. government may assert copyright outside of the United States for U.S. government works."

http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml

Is this data open? Open only when used in the US? Not open because it may not be open everywhere?

Gene

________________________________
 From: Rob Myers <rob at robmyers.org>
To: okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org 
Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2013 6:32 PM
Subject: Re: [okfn-discuss] How important is the right to publish open data?

On 06/07/13 22:47, Jeni Tennison wrote:
> 
> My concern is that 'open data' that is published without an
> unambiguous right to publish introduces uncertainty into the wider open
> data ecosystem: all datasets and apps that incorporate that data are
> then similarly tainted with that uncertainty, and it will prove hard to
> unpick if we find that we need to later.

> What do you all think?

This is a very valid concern. You don't want to pass licensing risk downstream.

Having to be rigorous about this can be off-putting, but getting it right to start with is less of a burden than having to remove or compensate for mislicensed data.

- Rob.
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