Well we try to answer questions as quickly as possible. Some answers depend on further meetings, others depend on replies from busy professionals. Some answers get lost in the mundane reality of day to day life.
Here are a couple of answers for questions that were asked a few weeks back. Not your questions perhaps, but answers to community questions nonetheless. DRAFT http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/License/Contributor_Terms_FAQ DRAFT As it says, this is a draft, so expect more answers over time. You ask again how much data loss is acceptable? And this has been answered before as, "That depends on the local and global context of the particular data." I don't think that this question is unanswered so much as it is unanswerable. Of course every contributor will have their own opinion on how much, and on a particular piece of the planet that may hold more interest for them personally. That's not an answer either, but it does point out the Sisyphean scale of finding One True Answer to your repeated question. Your question regarding legal council suggests that the author of ODbL is the only lawyer that OSMF board have relied upon for advice regarding ODbL and the license change process. This is incorrect. So what you see as "the biggest conflict of interest in the project" does not exist. As a brief history of OSMF and lawyers, OSMF have had two different firms agree to provide legal advice for OSMF. The second still serve OSMF after taking over when the first firm was unable to respond in a timely matter. I thank both firms for their interest in OpenStreetmap and their support of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap community as a whole, not just the OSMF membership, were invited to contribute to the drafts, release candidates and final version of the ODbL. The Contributor Terms were written by OSMF council at another law firm, not by the ODbL author. Other lawyers in several jurisdictions, from additional firms, have offered opinions at various times on various matters. You ask when the tools will be ready to analyse the impact of licensing questions. Largely the answer is the same as for questions about any software tool in any open project; they'll be ready when they are ready. As an alternative answer they will be ready when you write them. But flip answers are not really my style, so forgive my brief non-answer. During the LWG meeting this week, one participant discussed the tool they were creating. So some work on these visualization tools is proceeding. Also proceeding is the discussion of exactly what edits should be treated in what way during the license change[1]. So if you care one way or the other if a spell-check 'bot that changes tag spelling should be considered for reversion if the owner chooses not to accept ODbL/CT, you should participate in that discussion. Is a simple import of data published elsewhere a contribution that earns the possibility of reversion or is it purely mechanical? On the other hand, we're also answering questions and revising text for additional clarity, and checking revisions with lawyers. So things will keep taking time. [1] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/dev/2010-August/020124.html _______________________________________________ legal-talk mailing list legal-talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk