[okfn-za] Please Sue Me

[Carrie Buckmaster]

Adi,

I think you are great. I will buy your data. I actually need a list of Cape
Town suburbs from the last census linked to household income.

Thanks for fighting the good fight and being all inspirational and that.

This afternoon I spend a bunch of time shooting a video for a friend
applying for a scholarship which you could also apply for. It's a
changemaker scholarship. If you want to dedicate a year to this project and
get funded stay up tonight and write an essay.  Entries close tomorrow.
http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/funding/fellowship-programme/  If
nothing else its always good to get things down on paper.

Good luck.

Carrie


On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 5:17 PM, Raymond Joseph <rayjoe at iafrica.com> wrote:

> There's an election in SA next year and that means there's a window of a
> few
> months that opens every five years when politicians are more accessible and
> open to pressure. So a question: How do we turn the issue of open data into
> an election issue? I reckon it's possible to run a pretty effective
> campaign
> in the run-up to the elections, without getting involved in party political
> issues, that would stir up people to ask about data and who owns it and who
> gets to use it.
> Adi and I have had run-ins with StatsSA and what is clear is that they
> actually don't give a stuff about open data, even though they parrot the
> concept without seeing the contradictions in the way they behave. If we
> come
> armed with the facts and pick the right fights we could really shake things
> up. As for Adi's suggestion, I think it's an excellent one and also has the
> bonus of being an audit of what's out there that we want. Perhaps it's time
> for some good old fashioned activism? My 2c worth.
>
> Aluta continua, Ray
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: odadi at googlegroups.com [mailto:odadi at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
> Adi Eyal
> Sent: 30 April 2013 03:10 PM
> To: odadi at googlegroups.com; okfn-za at lists.okfn.org;
> hackshackers-capetown at googlegroups.com;
> hackshackers-johannesburg at googlegroups.com
> Subject: Please Sue Me
>
> Some of you may have read an article that I posted recently on the OKFN
> mailing list and on the Daily Maverick with regards to the openness of
> government data in South Africa.
>
> In that article, I described an exercise that I undertook to gain
> commercial
> access to that data. I have had very few responses, all of which expressly
> forbid commercial use.
>
> As per the Copyright Act, I am not certain that most of this data qualifies
> for copyright protection as it usually contains a database of facts where
> no
> innovative process was used to produce said data. On the moral front, it
> seems absurd that data produced using public funds should be restricted in
> such a way. In an ideal world an open data licence would be attached to all
> government data allowing for re-use without permission or restriction.
> Please see an excerpt from a comment that I received from the legal advisor
> to parliament:
>
> "Should you wish to request permission or a licence to use information on
> our webpage for commercial gain, I suggest you indicate the item you want
> to
> use and the specific purpose for its use to allow us to make an informed
> decision. "
>
> I it is unacceptable to be required to request permission to re-use a list
> of MPs listed on www.parliament.gov.za
>
> I would like to propose a provocative response that will hopefully spark a
> conversation (and despite the codename, not get me sued).
> Volunteers and comments and criticisms welcome.
>
> The idea is as follows:
>
> 1. Build a website registered at www.pleasesueme.co.za 2. Scrape a bunch
> of
> data from government website, stuff that seems to not be copyrightable 3.
> Upload it to the website and offer it up for sale for a nominal fee. It
> needs to be sold so as to assert a right for general re-use.
> Sold data will be re-released under an open licence.
>
> The money (i expect very little data to be actually sold) will be used to
> fund a war-chest (however small) for a legal defense if it comes to that.
> My
> gut feeling is that we won't get any response at all but by being
> provocative, we might get people thinking about why it might be important
> to
> push open data licences within government. We might get a take-down notice
> which would be evaluated based on merit. I can't imagine (though I am not a
> lawyer) that any public agency has the time, money or wherewithal to take
> this to court.
>
> Any responses, including flames about how I'm being naive or that
> antagonism
> is not the correct approach are welcome.
>
> Adi
>
> --
> Adi Eyal
> Data Specialist
> phone: +27 78 014 2469
> skype: adieyalcas
> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>
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