[Open-data-census] [CLARIFICATION REQUIRED] Can PSI Licence be considered an "open" license?

Wed Oct 9 16:49:46 BST 2013

Hi Denis,

I am not a lawyer,......

If I compare

“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and
redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute
and/or share-alike." - See more at: http://opendefinition.org/

to the PSI license, I am inclined to read the PSI license as being a 'by
attribution' type of license without other restrictions than that, and
hence open.

the boilerplate stuff of not being allowed to use things immorally or
illegally, implying endorsement etc is pretty standard, and superfluous, as
it is usually covered by other regulations/laws anyway. The same goes for
the stuff about the logo's etc. Other open national licenses have the same
type of articles.

What seems to be missing from the PSI license is a clear statement
regarding redistribution. Which is the only concern I think I have. It
forbids sublicensing, but does mention reproduction as a form of re-use.

What may make it hard to comply with the PSI license, and in practice limit
its experienced openness, is the requirement to display quite a bit of
information on the copyright of the re-used material.

In summary I'd say this is an open license (of the by attribution variety),
also because of how Martin Troy and John Foley of Department of Public
Expenditure and Reform (@govdotie <http://twitter.com/govdotie>) talked
about the PSI License at the Dublinked Event last year Nov, and give it the
benefit of the doubt. Although for some in the Irish community that may not
be easy ;)

Are there any examples of the license being enforced? Which my further
clarify the issue. Also asking @govdotie if they themselves intend this as
a 'by attribution' license might be useful.

Asking on the Open Def list as Rufus suggests is a good idea.

best,
Ton

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Interdependent Thoughts
Ton Zijlstra

ton at tonzijlstra.eu
+31-6-34489360

http://zylstra.org/blog

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On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 5:14 PM, Tracey Lauriault
<Tracey.Lauriault at nuim.ie>wrote:

> Denis;
>
> At the Hackthon in Dublin, the data invetory team had classified PSI as
> open.
>
> Cheers
> t
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Denis Parfenov <denis.parfenov at gmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 4:09 pm
> Subject: [CLARIFICATION REQUIRED] Can PSI Licence be considered an "open"
> license?
> To: open-data-census <open-data-census at lists.okfn.org>, Ton Zijlstra <
> ton.zijlstra at gmail.com>
> Cc: local <local at okfn.org>, Christian Villum <christian.villum at okfn.org>,
> Tracey Lauriault <Tracey.Lauriault at nuim.ie>, Flora Butcher <
> daydreamer2105 at gmail.com>
>
> > Hi Ton,
> >
> > As you know most of the data produced by the Irish govt agencies<http://psi.gov.ie/government-departments/>fall under PSI
> license <http://psi.gov.ie/files/2010/03/PSI-Licence.pdf>.
> >
> > Quick and very important question: Do we consider PSI License as "open"
> license?
> >
> > (I don't see PSI listed http://opendefinition.org/licenses/)<http://opendefinition.org/licenses/>
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Denis Parfenov
>
> > OKF Ambassador for Ireland
>
> > m: +353863850044 I  @prfnv <https://twitter.com/prfnv> | prfnv.org<http://www.prfnv.org>
>
> > The Open Knowledge Foundation Empowering through Open Knowledge
> http://okfn.org/
>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Dr. Tracey P. Lauriault
> Programmable City Project
> National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis
> NUI Maynooth
> Maynooth
> Co. Kildare
> Republic of Ireland
>
> Tel: 01-708-6219 and
> International callers: 353-1-708-6219
> Tracey.Lauriault at NUIM.ie
> http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/
>
>
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