Ah, I see that was probably just the point Jez was making: I missed the " *tax* money " in his post. Sorry.
On Thu, 5 Sep 2019 at 12:15, Edward Bainton <[email protected]> wrote: > Jez wrote: > > i'm just trying to get on with my business....using a resource bought > and paid for with my hard earned tax money.... > > My understanding, from a relative who did a lot of lobbying for libraries > on copyright and data law, is that electronic publishing has caused a total > revolution in how these things work. > > In the past the map you bought and paid for really was your resource. Fair > enough, copyright prevented you from just going into business and printing > off more copies to sell on, or even keep for your own use; but other than > that you could do what you liked with the property in your hands - > including trace round the field you want to sell to your neighbour. > > The recent change to electronic everything is that no one ever parts with > the resource at all - they make it available under licence (= a permission > to do with something what would ordinarily be forbidden). As a private > contract that you freely agree to, the licensor can put just about anything > in the terms they like and courts will enforce that agreement. > > Profit-making business will alway outgun the public/community/charity > sector in the lobby rounds, so legislation grants only highly restrictive > public-interest exemptions. In the case of OS that is especially galling, > given that it was public money that built the map. >
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