2009/10/14 Jo Walsh <[email protected]>: > dear all, > > I've seen posted today a petition to provide "non-profit and community > websites" with free access to the Royal Mail data - this is in the > wake of the statement from planningalerts.com that they are > considering withdrawing their service rather than pay licensing fees > to the Royal Mail - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7700621.stm > - thanks, James. > > I'm doubtful enough about this not to sign the petition. > http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/nfppostcodes/ > > Open access for "non-profits" will create an administration burden, as > organisations need to be certified, some may not even be legal > entities yet be popular going concerns, proposed usage needs to be > evaluated. Lots of time needed from humans here.
I agree: I think if one is aiming to open data up one should be aiming for proper "open" data. Creating a divisions between not-for-profit/non-commercial from everything else is, I think, mistake. > There is a spectrum, not a line, between non-profit and for-profit > activity. There are plenty of organisations that make a surplus to be > reinvested in operations. There are plenty of websites out there > running Google AdWords to support running costs, money changes hands, > the behaviour is commercial. Politicians talk about social enterprise, > the third sector, does this description fit. There's also a lot of > potential non-"website" use in running mailling lists, canvassing > applications, would this be included. Excellently put -- and all good points. > Open access to postcode data for all, would be cheaper to run as well > as a more equitable position. There's a factoid from Rufus in a > Guardian article covering this discussion: "Rufus Pollock, a Cambridge > economist who co-wrote a study for the government on the economic > benefit of making trading funds' data free, calculates that making > PostZon free would bring an economic benefit 50% greater than Royal > Mail's present revenues." I'd also emphasize that such estimates are predicated on an assumption of commercial access since it will often be "commercial" organizations who are the reusers and redistributors -- which is where the welfare gains come from. Regards, Rufus _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
