[okfn-za] Please Sue Me

Tue Apr 30 16:56:58 UTC 2013

> 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 Carrie. Wrt the suburbs data, I can help you with ward level data
but I don't think StatsSA had yet released Subplace level data which is the
closest thing to suburbs. I'll check again to confirm.
>
> Thanks for fighting the good fight and being all inspirational and that.

Hopefully we can take something forward as a community and perhaps this
project is sexy enough to get the momentum going.

> 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.

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Adi
>
> 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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>>
>
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