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Open Database License v1.0
Version 1.0 of
the Open Database License is now official. This is the license that
the OpenStreetMap project proposes to move to; the current
plan envisions a vote being held almost right away, followed by a
2-3 month transition.
(Log in to post comments)
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 1, 2009 17:47 UTC (Wed) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]
This license seems really poorly-advised:
First is drafted like a contract, and second it removes right you would normally have (at leat in some juridiction). It is also very complex too.
Maybe I misunderstand the object of the license, but applied to software this would certainly not be an open-source license.
I hope the contributors of OpenStreetMap understand they are going a step backward in freedom.
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 1, 2009 19:19 UTC (Wed) by endecotp (guest, #36428) [Link]
> This license seems really poorly-advised
I tend to agree. Their concern is that they need to protect their data from commercial mapping companies. No-one seems to have come up with an alternative that offers the protection that they feel they need. Do we believe that they should not be concerned about the commercial "threat"? Would we be happy to see Google Maps fill its gaps with OSM data?
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 1, 2009 21:21 UTC (Wed) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] As someone who's made a couple of tiny contributions/corrections to OSM and who would like to do more, I'd be just fine with Google Maps using OSM data (or not, their choice). I want OSM to have excellent, accurate data that can be used without hassle. I don't care if commercial people can use the data, and I worry that attempts to construct legal barriers against commercial "exploitation" will have the side effect of preventing worthy projects from using the data as well.
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 1, 2009 23:26 UTC (Wed) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]
A quick skim of this says to me this is simply a copyleft licence - they don't want commercial companies taking, and not giving back. The GPL is *exactly* the same.
And if TomTom, Garmin, et al all decided to use this licence the result would be marvelous ... I gather a fair amount of TomTom data is user-collected anyways, and at the moment it seems like they're doing a "gracenote" on their users.
Cheers,
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 2, 2009 13:15 UTC (Thu) by endecotp (guest, #36428) [Link]
> A quick skim of this says to me this is simply a copyleft licence
It needs more than a quick skim then :-)
It is attempting to protect aspects of the data that are not copyrightable in some jurisdictions (i.e. mainly the US) because they are "merely facts" by being a contract. In this sense it is, to my knowledge, very different from any other "free" or "open" license.
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 3, 2009 12:28 UTC (Fri) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]
That is the major problem: it is named the "Open Database License" and the preamble present it a a kind of copyleft license, but if you look at the term it is _not_ even a license, it is a contract, and restrict right you had before agreeing with this contract. In other term this is an EULA.
But is presented so that people doing "a quick skim" will believe it is a standard copyleft license.
Open Database License v1.0 Posted Jul 2, 2009 3:49 UTC (Thu) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link]
Google Maps is hardly likely to do anything to *improve* the OSM database if it isn't in a position to *use* it -- I'd say having it used by a massive commercial operation, under an agreeable licence *or contract* -- would be vastly better than having it suffer bitrot as the majority of users drift away to the more practically-useful proprietary offerings.
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