Part of the problem is the use of the term "Open API" (and within it the concept "Open"). I've had robust discussions with software manufacturers about this. Companies paid for a black-box system and developers wanted to hack it - so they "Open"ed the API. I have seen "Open APIs" whose T&Cs include "this API is confidential information ..."
The word "Open" is now so degraded in normal use that in OK/F we have a major challenge finding a way of reasserting the key concept - "free to use, re-use, and re-distribute" (to which we now have to add "freedom from spying"). We find this everywhere "Fully Open Access - until December. You may not copy, print, or redistribute this material ..." So if Tim O'Reilly had used a term like "publicly documented APIs of unclear duration or re-usability" that would have been reasonably accurate. -- Peter Murray-Rust Reader in Molecular Informatics Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry University of Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK +44-1223-763069
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