[open-government] congrats

Tue Dec 13 00:06:21 UTC 2011

2011/12/12 Chris Taggart <countculture at gmail.com>:
> Does anyone else think the definition of open data on the announcement is
> somewhat off the mark:
>
> "Open Data is general information that can be freely used, re-used and
> redistributed by anyone - either free or at marginal cost."
> - http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1524&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Yes - this is indeed off the mark, except in circumstances where
marginal cost is zero. But in which case one shouldn't need a "free or
zero".

> Not sure how that 'freely used, re-used and redistributed' squares with
> the 'at marginal cost' part. I'm guessing they mean you can buy it at
> marginal cost, but then have the right to re-use and redistribute without
> any incumbent licence. However, it's not clear (possibly intentionally), and
> seems likely to cause confusion.

Indeed.

> Jonathan: can you clarify?

I'm writing a follow up piece for the Guardian now (busy day!) which
should hopefully unpack this a bit. It'll be up tomorrow and I'll post
the link here...

J.

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-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
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