[pd-discuss] [open-bibliography] Free BMD and PD Calculators

Sat Sep 25 10:51:00 UTC 2010

On 24 September 2010 22:15, Tom Morris <tfmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 1:46 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
>
>>> <http://www.freebmd.org.uk/>
>>
>> That data would be much more useful if it were open ;) See the terms
>> and conditions:
>>
>> 1. FreeBMD is provided free of charge for personal research purposes only.
>> 2. Access to the data held by FreeBMD is only permitted manually via
>> the search page. The use of front end programs or sites to enter
>> search parameters is strictly forbidden
>> 3. Data extracted from FreeBMD must not be reproduced in any form.
>
> I don't know if it's the reason behind FreeBMD's licensing, but
> historically the genealogical community has been gun shy of commercial
> ventures due to past bad experiences snarfing up freely provided data
> and then putting it behind pay walls and selling it back to the people
> that provided it.  That, and the sleazy business practices of
> companies like Ancestry have probably left a bad taste in people's
> mouths about commercial usage.  I think the objections can be overcome
> if the arguments are framed correctly, but it'll take some work.

Thanks for the update on the background here Tom.

Makes me think a share-alike license might be useful to address these
sort of 'enclosure' concerns -- and sharealike would be open (as
opposed to non-commercial restrictions).

Rufus
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