Hi everyone, I wanted to draw your attention to a release from the Dept. of Public Enterprise & Reform [1] on Feb 12th in which the Minister, Brendan Howlin, launched a policy paper looking for feedback regarding the type of licence to be applied in the future to data released by the Irish Govt. through data.gov.ie [2].
In the release, the main information you need is contained in the policy paper (word document) [3]. In it, the case is made for various different licence options. I would strongly encourage everyone on this list to take 10-15 minutes to have a read through the policy document [3] and to give their views on the licence options listed. The closing date for submissions is 18th March 2015 so you have a bit of time, please do give this the time it deserves and send a mail to [4]. Why is this important to OpenStreetMap? The irish govt. has signed up to the OGP (Open Government Partnership) and has committed to releasing large swathes of govt. data under open licences to allow it to be used by anyone. This is still in its early stages but will become more important over the next year or two as more elements are locked down. In the OpenStreetMap context, it is vital that the right licence is chosen to allow us to even consider using any data that might be opened up. The policy document swings between either going the PD (Public domain) route where the govt. relinquishes all rights and its basically a free-for-all with the data to alternatively going down the CC-BY route, where all that is required is attribution. Either option is compatible with OSM and will allow us to make use of any data released. Why is this important to everyone in general? One additional option listed is Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA) licencing which will not be compatible with OSM licencing. If you are making a submission, I would ask that you call out the lack of suitability of any licence that requires share-alike as it will suit very few data consumers and will limit the data usage from academics, commercial entities, OSM etc. About the only group that would benefit from a CC-BY-SA licence is Wikipedia, but that is about all. Once the licence is chosen, if the wrong one is chosen, it will take a herculean effort to get it changed and would take several years so this is the point at which you want to make your voice heard regarding this issue. Thanks, Dave 1 - http://www.per.gov.ie/minister-howlin-launches-open-data-licences-paper-for-public-consultation-at-public-service-seminar/ 2 - http://data.gov.ie/ 3 - http://per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/Open-Data-Licence-Consultation-Paper-February-2015.docx 4 - opend...@per.gov.ie _______________________________________________ Talk-ie mailing list Talk-ie@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ie
