[okfn-discuss] Web 2.0 Killed the Internet (article)

[Peter Murray-Rust]

Part of the problem is the use of the term "Open API" (and within it the
concept "Open"). I've had robust discussions with software manufacturers
about this. Companies paid for a black-box system and developers wanted to
hack it - so they "Open"ed the API. I have seen "Open APIs" whose T&Cs
include "this API is confidential information ..."

The word "Open" is now so degraded in normal use that in OK/F we have a
major challenge finding a way of reasserting the key concept - "free to
use, re-use, and re-distribute" (to which we now have to add "freedom from
spying"). We find this everywhere "Fully Open Access - until December. You
may not copy, print, or redistribute this material ..."

So if Tim O'Reilly had used a term like "publicly documented APIs of
unclear duration or re-usability" that would have been reasonably accurate.





-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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