[open-science] Openness and Licensing of (Open) Data

Mon Feb 9 16:25:39 UTC 2009

Possibly dumb question follows:

> Let's be really clear: everyone will need to apply a license (or
> something very close) even if they are just making stuff PD (because
> they need to formally waive whatever rights they have).

But we are talking about data, not stuff in general; data are a very
specific kind of stuff.

I thought the native state of data was public domain.  Copyright does
not inhere in facts, and patents have to be applied for to be got, so
why would you have to license data to make it public domain?  Surely
just making it available serves that purpose?  The point of a norm or
statement (or even a license) placing it in the public domain is only to
make it *unambiguously* available to everyone, forever.

Moreover, waiving one's rights doesn't seem to me to be "very close" to
a license at all.  Licenses exert control, waivers do away with it.

Another question: are attribution and share-alike compatible with public
domain?  The distinction seems pretty clear to me (BY and SA both take
something OUT of the public domain, right?), but is becoming blurry in
this discussion.

best,

Bill.