On 11 Oct 2009, at 13:44, Owen Blacker wrote: > With respect, I think that's an overwhelmingly foolish decision. > > Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough. If we don't make a > start here, we won't ever achieve the fully free postcodes that > everyone here wants.
I've heard this "perfect vs good enough" line a couple of times now and I don't buy it. If you are lobbying Royal Mail, then the best you can hope for is a free, or low-cost, non-profit license as it probably won't cost them much, is an easy PR win and takes the heat off any discussion of the thorny problem of what right they have as a pseudo-commercial corporation to sell a database built using public funds. However, this is a discussion centred around a No 10 petition. If you are lobbying ministers then you are lobbying for the wrong thing. This isn't a story that makes much sense to me. The Royal Mail doesn't care about the benefits to self-employed people, small businesses and the wider economy, but MPs *can* be convinced of these things. All these people, who some here seem to think of as freeloaders on the public purse, are also known as constituents and tax-payers. I'm not asking for the perfect, I'm asking for the sensible. If you want free postcodes then this drains valuable momentum from the campaign with something that MPs and Royal Mail will see as addressing the immediate problem and therefore absolves them of the responsibility to consider the bigger issue - a particular waste at a time when we can capture some media attention and have already gotten at least one vocal MP interested in the issue. It also entrenches the view that commercial use is somehow "bad" or "different" and, most disappointingly to me, makes it appear that we, as a community, agree with this view. If all you really want is for MySociety and other non-profit web- mashups to be able to use the database without having to pay, then go ahead, but I won't support it. > Yes, this might give RM a vaguely-easy PR win; it's up to us to make > sure that the media spin it as "just a start". I don't think the media are going to care less about the "just a start" story: it will be lost in the "won't somebody think of the children" charity white-noise. > I'd beseech you to change your mind and sign this petition. Divide > and conquer is even more effective when we do it to ourselves. "Divide and conquer" only makes sense here if you believe we were initially united in our view and that somehow this is a conspiracy by the Royal Mail, otherwise it's just patronising nonsense. If you have a solid argument as to how a non-profit license is a step towards free postcodes rather than a step backwards, I'd love to hear it. I'm disappointed that discourse on this subject is reducing to the level of badgering people who disagree. Jonathan _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
