[open-science] Big and open data – who should bear data transfer costs?

[Paweł Szczęsny]

2014-05-17 13:41 GMT+02:00 Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk>:
> This point has been raised over the years and personally I think it's
> reasonable to pay for technical costs involved, but they should be
> **transparent** and acceptable.

Indeed this point has been raised many times over the years, but each
time the idea of a payment for technical infrastructure during
download was trashed as _unreasonable_, at least when discussion
concerned research institutions in Europe or US. This is the role of
funding for research infrastructure (and in some places certain taxes)
to cover such a cost.

The other thing is that such a payment is essentially a paywall.
Technical issues aside (all Emanuil wrote is a very valid point),
putting open stuff behind an obligatory paywall is a bad move from the
PR point of view. Think Elsevier requiring payment for OA articles.

That said, some institutions experiment with a freemium model in this
area, which looks a bit better. You get the data for free, but if you
need it fast (fast lane, special protocol, etc.) you need to pay a
fee.

Best wishes
PS