[open-government] Is it too radical to demand everything?

Sat Sep 15 12:38:10 UTC 2012

On 09/14/2012 10:48 PM, JOSEFSSON Erik wrote:
> On 15/09/12 03:58, Josh Tauberer wrote:
>>> the open data movement must demand from government and public sector 
>>> to publish everything themselves
>>
>> It's not too radical. If you add in basic caveats for security, 
>> privacy, and intellectual property,
>
> Which intellectual properties are you thinking of?

I was just using as wide a brush as possible so that I could get away 
with saying "most open gov advocates" believed something.

But there are two to keep in mind. One is IP held by the private sector 
on documents that happen to have gotten mixed up in government records. 
The other is IP held by the government on its own records.

There's no particular consensus on what to do about either of those. For 
instance, in the U.S., you're supposed to lose copyright protection if 
your document makes it into actual law, but in other cases privately 
held IP could be mixed in with government records. I think open gov 
advocates tend to be OK with that line, but I'm not sure. Also in the 
U.S. we take a hard line that no government records can be called open 
if they have any intellectual property or license restrictions, but that 
is not the case in most other places in the world where OKD/CC-style 
licenses are accepted by the open government communities there.

- Josh Tauberer (@JoshData)

http://razor.occams.info

On 09/14/2012 10:48 PM, JOSEFSSON Erik wrote:
> On 15/09/12 03:58, Josh Tauberer wrote:
>>> the open data movement must demand from government and public sector 
>>> to publish everything themselves
>>
>> It's not too radical. If you add in basic caveats for security, 
>> privacy, and intellectual property,
>
> Which intellectual properties are you thinking of?
>
> Europeana finally came to the conclusion that its metadata has to be 
> CC0 (as it also waives database rights).
>
> The GPL is a software patent free zone.
>
> So, which legit caveats are there?
>
> Trademarks?
>
> //Erik
>
>
>> I think most open gov advocates would say, yes, in a perfect world, 
>> government records should all be online. That sort of 
>> across-the-board transparency is the root of the freedom of 
>> information / right to know movement, which is right now pretty 
>> healthy across the world. People do demand that, and constitutions 
>> these days get written with that in mind. (Success!)
>>
>> A good starting point is the external links section on 
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_legislation.
>>
>> At the same time, people specialize on particular types of government 
>> records --- legislative, geospatial, financial, etc. We get into the 
>> details on these because when it comes time to implementing open data 
>> the details matter.
>>
>> So, both are going on.
>>
>> - Josh Tauberer (@JoshData)
>>
>> http://razor.occams.info
>>
>> On 09/14/2012 05:06 AM, Ivo Babaja wrote:
>>>
>>> Considering Rufus' post about great expectations, I think that the 
>>> goal for open data should be more radical.
>>>
>>> I think that, at least in some future perspective, the open data 
>>> movement must demand from government and public sector to publish 
>>> everything themselves.
>>>
>>> To require that information should be published, to be considered 
>>> official and legal.
>>>
>>> And I mean ALL information. Why not e.g. publish financial 
>>> transactions made from all government's accounts?
>>>
>>> That should help fight corruption more than simple budget projections.
>>>
>>> With this info, there is foundation for more meaningful, more 
>>> to-the-point political discussion, whether it comes from media, 
>>> political parties or NGOs.
>>>
>>> And that is real contribution to democratic progress.
>>>
>>> But open data can not be just about progress.
>>>
>>> It must also be about people's right to know and control those that 
>>> are conducting public duties.
>>>
>>> My views in short here: http://www.publictopublic.org.
>>>
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>>
>>> Ivo Babaja
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>> open-government at lists.okfn.org
>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Erik Josefsson
> Advisor on Internet Policies
> Greens/EFA Group 
> <http://www.greens-efa.eu/36-details/josefsson-erik-138.html>
> GSM: *+32484082063*
> BXL: PHS 04C075 TEL: +3222832667
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>
>
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