On 12 Oct 2009, at 13:23, Harry Metcalfe wrote: > The pragmatic argument is that it's better economics for postcode data > to be free to all. More people will innovate, more people will create > things, more value will be generated. If you make it free for > non-commercial use only you lose a large portion of that value. It > almost defeats the point (but not quite).
I emphatically agree with you here. > The only reason we're advocating a special licence for not-for-profits > is that *right now* it's the thing that we can most plausibly > accomplish > that will do some good. > > If we waltz into the Royal Mail and ask them to make postcode data > free, > for all, forever, and gut the multi-million pound postcode reselling > industry in the process, we'll be laughed out of the room. > > It's the right thing to do, but totally impractical. I agree that if you're negotiating with Royal Mail, then the special license is probably the best that can be achieved, but if you're lobbying politicians why start so low? It's the wrong argument: instead of arguing about innovation and GDP, you're arguing about non- profits not being able to afford the database. I think the latter is also a weaker political argument. The current situation is that everybody pays or gets sued by the Royal Mail. Clearly this is a poor situation and we both agree that nobody pays is the right thing. However, if we explicitly lobby for a "some pay, some don't pay" then *we create* the very thing we despise: we stifle wider innovation for the benefit of a few non-profits. Once you've created the monster, and let people believe it is better, I fear you're going to have a much harder time dismantling it. Here's a quote from the Guardian coverage of the issue: > The Guardian's Free Our Data campaign, which has the aim of making > non-personal data collected by government-owned bodies available for > free without copyright, has repeatedly pointed out that the postcode > database is created in effect for free by local government > authorities and was initially created with public money. Charging > for it now produces a comparatively small amount of revenue and > profit, while holding back the development of huge numbers of web > services such as Job Centre Pro Plus. Large companies such as Yahoo > and Google can afford to pay the postcode database licence, but that > shuts out smaller would-be British startups. and from Tom Watson MP: > I take the position that the postcode file and the data set of > physical coordinates that go with it are a national asset that > should be freely available to any UK citizen. Yay! Let's squander all this goodwill and publicity by campaigning for something rubbish. Jonathan _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
