>>Conclusion: explicit law may already give us
permission to use (our) data any way we see fit,
simply by asking for them. Read up on >>your
state's laws on Public Records, see if there are
any court decisions affirming, and armed with
this knowledge, ask away. Happy mapping!
Good point. RCFP just published a guide to open
government records law for all 50 states, which
you can find here here:
<http://t.co/bBEWW1H2FG>http://tinyurl.com/m6leum5
The guide is simply the text of state
legislation, so you won't find anything in the
way of interpretation or application. For that
you'd better look closer to home.
In Virginia we have a public records law that
places most public records in the public domain,
but interestingly (or frustratingly) every
jurisdiction in the state asserts copyright over
the data. Here is the text of that copyright:
"Information shown on these maps is derived from
public records that are constantly undergoing
change and do not replace a site survey, and is
not warranted for content or accuracy. The
County does not guarantee the positional or
thematic accuracy of the GIS data. The GIS data
or cartographic digital files are not a legal
representation of any of the features in which
it depicts, and disclaims any assumption of the
legal status of which it represents. Data
contained on this Web page/site is Copyright ©
York County, Virginia. The GIS data are
proprietary to the County, and title to this
information remains in the County. All
applicable common law and statutory rights in
the GIS data including,but not limited to,
rights in copyright, shall and will remain the
property of the County."
My take is that this language was crafted in the
early days of paleo-GIS and was intended as a
CYA by local governments who feared getting sued
for inaccurate data. I'm not sure of the
implications for importing into OpenStreetMap.
Insights welcome.
OK, Steven, here are my insights. Again, I am
not an attorney, just a reasonably informed
Citizen, and I most certainly do not know
everything in this realm.
It would seem Virginia has a situation similar to
California's a few years ago, BEFORE California
Supreme Court's 2009 decision: one where
statutory law (California Public Records Act,
part of California's Government Code) conflicted
with a copyright/Terms of Use by a public entity
(Santa Clara County). The California First
Amendment Coalition (CFAC) requested geographic
data from the County of Santa Clara free of the
County's onerous copyright and/or Terms of Use
(asserting it under CPRA law, as enacted), the
County refused, so CFAF sued, demanding as its
remedy access to the data unfettered by copyright
or other restrictions. Long story short, it went
all the way to the California Supreme Court, and
CFAF won.
The best part about this is that "open access to
public records" isn't just enacted law, it is
enacted law AFFIRMED BY HIGH COURT, about as good
as it gets when such or similar questions arise
in the future.
What you (or somebody else, preferably with deep
legal pockets!) might do is something similar:
explicitly reject the copyright as a direct
conflict of statutory law. It appears you have
to understand what Virginia's law says, be
prepared to challenge the jurisdiction's actions
(assertion of copyright) as illegal and be
convinced court(s) will see it your way. I
think. Or at least, be prepared for that to
happen: that's what happened here.
A similar, recent (July 2013) case between the
Sierra Club and Orange County can be read about
at
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/08/local/la-me-adv-map-ruling-20130709
where again, the court ruled that the County must
provide the GIS data without licensing or
restrictions on distribution.
Once the data are "cleanly yours," THEN there are
good questions to ask whether the data might or
should find their way into OSM. That is an
entirely different thread! (One which has been
addressed many times and in many ways regarding
imports).
I hope this helps,
SteveA
California
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