License issues

[sieh...@googlemail.com]

Leigh Dodds wrote:

> I believe the proposed Wikipedia license is CC-BY-SA?
> So there may still be two separate licenses.

The license for textual Wikipedia content is GFDL and will switch to
CC-BY-SA. But it is highly arguable whether the use of pure data
derived from Wikipedia content is restricted under the same license.
This is because facts can not be copyrighted under some legal systems.
On the other hand there can be additional rights on databases under
some other legal systems - in summary there is no easy answer but it
always depends on.

As far as I know the Wikimedia Foundation has no official position
about this issue - the general aim is to make the use of information
as free as possible. Whether a share-alike or a more liberal method is
better to ensure this freedom has been discussed over and over again
between supporters of GPL-style and supporters of BSD-style licenses.
For data it is even more complicated because it is unsure wheter a
"license" can be applied to raw data at all. See the Comments of
Creative Commons on the Open Database License (ODbL) Proposed by Open
Data Commons:

http://www.sciencecommons.org/resources/readingroom/comments-on-odbl

And the position of Open Streetmap Foundation:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Open_Data_License_FAQ#Why_not_a_public_domain.2FBSD-type_licence.3F

> Personally I'd like to try and aim for getting a truly public domain data set together. That way it can qualify for hosting in the Platform for free, it would also let the information be most widely used and, e.g. inter-mixed with data that conforms with the Science Commons protocol.

To put data under public domain I think the best way is to state that
CC Zero and/or PDDL can be applied. But then you don't have share-
alike. To ensure that free data remains free there is an ongoing
discussion about an open license for databases that includes share-
alike:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Open_Data_License

In general it is not a legal but a social question whether all Open
data can be Public Domain (CC Zero, PDDL, ...) or restricted to use
only if it remains open (CC-BY-SA, ODbL ...)

Cheers,
Jakob

--
Jakob Voß <jakob...@gbv.de>, skype: nichtich
Verbundzentrale des GBV (VZG) / Common Library Network
Platz der Goettinger Sieben 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
+49 (0)551 39-10242, http://www.gbv.de