On Thu, 2011-10-06 at 15:16 +0100, Tom Morris wrote: > Being able to merge government-produced data that we have funded the > creation of (through taxation) with volunteer produced content > (through Wikimedia, Open Street Map, free and open source software) > could dramatically help our mission of supporting the spread of free > and open knowledge. The Dutch government recently agreed to release a > lot of their geographical information for free, and it'd be great if > the UK could too. > > Is there any interest in putting together a response to the > government's consultation on the Public Data Corporation basically > saying we're firmly in favour of the government releasing as much as > they possibly can under free licenses. We could do this either as > Wikimedia UK or, if that isn't kosher with the charity application, as > "Wikimedians in the UK" or something. ;-)
Tom, I tend to agree that 'something' should be done and/or said. Where I think a point should be made in relation to some of the data where a high return can be made from taxpayer investment is that they should *not* lock it up for decades and decades. I'd give Ordinance Survey as an example. As they re-survey areas to add in new developments, they should be laying down the timeline/route to that data being freely-licensed, and ultimately entering the public domain. Licensing new map data to commercial interests will only generate income over a period of probably no more than a decade - likely less. I'd argue that after that period the full, highly detailed, data should be CC-BY with an "enters the public domain in X years" clause that can't be dicked with every time Steamboat Willie is threatened with big-eared legal Chinese knock-offs. Brian McNeil. -- http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Brian_McNeil - Accredited Reporter. Facts don't cease to be facts, but news ceases to be news. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
