On 24 October 2011 07:57, Mark Goodge <[email protected]> wrote: > On 24/10/2011 08:35, Francis Davey wrote: > >> 2011/10/24 Mark Goodge<[email protected]>: >> >>> >>> That looks an interesting site (seems broken at the moment, but I presume >>> that's merely an artifact of it still being in beta). Do you know, and if >>> so >>> are you able to share, how they managed to obtain the data from Companies >>> House? >>> >>> >> I'm specifically authorised to share something about it. >> >> They buy all their data from Companies House (who have various bulk >> buy deals which are fairly simple) and then upload it to their web >> server. Simples. >> > > Interesting. So they're paying for the data, but giving it away free? That > doesn't look like a sustainable business model to me :-)
Mark You should also check out OpenCorporates. We don't buy any data in bulk from Companies House on principle, because although there may or may not be a business model that supports buying it and then making it available as open data, it is in principle wrong that the public register should only be available as data to those who can afford it, and because selling this sort of data generates a gatekeeper approach that solidifies asymmetries of information and prevents innovation. We do, however, use the Companies House API (£5/month), and this specifically prohibits making the dataset available in bulk. We also scrape multiple other company registers around the world (currently 34 jurisdictions), and also multiple other datasets (e.g. London gazette, Health & Safety Executive notices, Spanish official journal, SEC data etc). It's also all available as open data (ODbL), to the extent that we have any rights over it, and is also available as XML, JSON etc. Level Business have, however done the incredibly useful job of buying a bunch of annual reports directly from Companies House, and putting them out under an open licence (again to the extent that they have the rights to them). They shouldn't have to buy them (New Zealand and a bunch of US states for example make them freely available), and arguably it both unsustainable and undesirable from a principled point of view, but I think they should still be applauded for doing so. Chris Taggart Co-founder, OpenCorporates > > -- ------------------------------------------------------- OpenCorporates :: The Open Database of the Corporate World http://opencorporates.com OpenlyLocal :: Making Local Government More Transparent http://openlylocal.com Blog: http://countculture.wordpress.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/CountCulture
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