[open-government] government data licenses - best practice?

Tue Sep 14 15:07:49 UTC 2010

To this discussion, let me just add that the National Institute for Standards and Technology in the Department of Commerce (DOC) is allowed to copyright the databases and information in its Standard Reference Data Center. It has an exception from 17 USC section 105 of the 1976 Copyright Act, the federal non-copyrightability provision. Also, quite a few federal agencies or divisions charge high prices (more than the marginal cost of dissemination) to access their data and information. Examples include the DOC National Technical Information Service (which disseminates technical reports for other agencies), the Energy Information Service, the NOAA Data Centers, and until recently, the Landsat data in the Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS :-)) Data Center of the US Geological Survey, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, (which used to cost $500 per scene and are now free).

Moreover, many agencies now outsource their data collection services to private-sector companies, which provide the data back to the government under proprietary conditions with site licenses that stipulate no redistribution outside the agency or the federal government. Thus the public domain status of federal government data and info is shrunk to government use only. This is particularly the case with geospatial data collection (satellite and aerial) for NASA, USGS, and the DOD, sometimes by choice and sometime by legislation (e.g., the Commercial Space Act of 1998, directing NASA to purchase space and earth science data collection and dissemination services from the private sector and to treat data as commercial commodities under federal procurement regulations). See Public Law No. 105-303, sections 107 (a) and (b). Similar pressures have been consistently applied on NOAA,  USGS, and DOD by the photogrammetric industry seeking to "productize" their services to capture and control the information.  Lots of lobbying for that.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Rufus Pollock
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 5:12 AM
To: Josh Tauberer
Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org; Olav Anders Øvrebø
Subject: Re: [open-government] government data licenses - best practice?

2010/9/13 Josh Tauberer <tauberer at govtrack.us>:
> Did anyone actually reply on this post?
>
> On 09/03/2010 06:47 AM, Olav Anders Øvrebø wrote:
>> The Norwegian government is currently working on formulating licenses
>> that will be used when agencies publish their data.
>
> The obvious answer in the U.S. would be: agencies should apply NO license to
> any work. I tend to qualify these things with "in the US" because I
> recognize that cultures seem to vary on this, but over here it's just a
> no-brainer that when the government publishes information (which is never
> copyrighted) that it should not tell its people in what ways it can or can't
> use that information. (Except for info that relates to privacy, security,
> etc.) And by and large this is actually how things are, which is good.

Josh, while I generally agree on the "be as liberal as possible"
principal, it isn't true, even in the US, that government info isn't
copyrighted -- while there is the 'noncopyright' provision for US
Federal gov material, the provision doesn't apply to state government
(or necessarily municipalities) or to the works of contractors.

Furthermore the no-copyright provision does not prevent the USA
federal government asserting copyright *outside* of the US, something
of substantial importance in the internet age.

> There is some consensus in the open gov community that this is the way
> things should be, see e.g. www.opengovdata.org.

While, as I said above, the more liberal the better I should say that
I would be happy to see material available under any open license
(http://opendefinition.org/) including ones that have attribution (and
sharealike) requirements.

> The EU Public Sector Information Directive specifically allows for certain
> types of licenses that cover "liability, the proper use of documents,
> guaranteeing non-alteration and the acknowledgment of source". These don't
> seem terribly onerous (in fact, I wouldn't object to a no-liability clause
> --- that's common in open source software, for instance), but I think the
> first question is exactly why agencies need these protections in the first
> place? What does acknowledgment do but boost their ego? Is that worth the
> limitations on the free expression by the public?

Those are good questions. I suppose this is a general issue: why do
people seek attribution or share-alike or even full copyright?

> I haven't seen a best-practices discussion about writing an open government
> data license, if one has to me made, so it would make for interesting
> further discussion.
>
> But again, I'd hope there just would not be one in the first place!

Unfortunately I think there inevitably is a requirement for such licences.

> - Josh Tauberer
> - CivicImpulse / GovTrack.us
>
> http://razor.occams.info | www.govtrack.us | civicimpulse.com
>
> "Members of both sides are reminded not to use guests of the
> House as props."
>
> On 09/03/2010 06:47 AM, Olav Anders Øvrebø wrote:
>>
>> The Norwegian government is currently working on formulating licenses
>> that will be used when agencies publish their data. Here is a blog post
>> (in Norwegian) about the considerations so far:
>> http://data.norge.no/blogg/2010/08/en-klausulbuffet-av-vilkar/
>>
>> A question to list members: Do you know of a "best practice" for such
>> licenses? Licenses that are in line with the principles of open data
>> (the Open Knowledge Definition?).
>>
>> National legislation of course complicates things. For instance one has
>> to take into consideration the law on copyright, see §43:
>>
>> http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/KKD/Medier/Acts%20and%20regulations/Aandsverkloven_engelsk_versjon_nov2008.pdf
>>
>> All the best,
>> olav
>>
>>
>>
>>
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