Why is open licensing important for OGP?Open Government Partnership
Civil Society Day workshop
● Legal clarity● Or else! chilling effects● Legal problems = huge timesuck● Make it invisible● Posting online not enough● Put in PD or attach open license● Machine-readable license● It’s not so difficult!
Why do need legal standards and open licensing in the first place?
● Efficient reuse by all, esp gov’t
● Effective gov’t spending; maximize investments
● Citizen participation, collaboration, transparency
● Promote creativity, innovation, unexpected uses and applications
● Spur economic activity● Example: Europeana - http:
//pro.europeana.eu/case-studies-edm
What is enabled by clarifying legal standards?
What is Creative Commons and how does it work?
● CC licenses built on traditional copyright law● works within existing system by allowing
movement from “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved”
● CC gives creators a choice about which freedoms to grant and which rights to keep
● CC minimizes transaction costs by granting the public certain permissions beforehand
License Building Blocks
All CC licenses are combinations of 4 elements:
Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivativesShareAlike
Anatomy of a CC license
Human readable deed
Lawyer readable code
Machine readable metadata
Creative Commons license chooser
https://creativecommons.org/choose/
Important License Attributes 1
● Scope is copyright and related rights● All are non-exclusive, irrevocable licenses● All require attribution● All permit reuse for at least noncommercial
purposes in unmodified form● Do not contract away user rights
(exceptions/limitations)● CC licensor enters into separate license
agreement with each user
Important License Attributes 2
● License runs with the work; recipient may not apply technological measures or conditions that limit another recipient’s rights under the license, e.g. no DRM
● no warranties● license terminates immediately upon breach● CC is not a party to the license
CC0 Public Domain Dedication
● read “CC Zero”● universal waiver, permanently surrenders
copyright and related rights, placing the work as nearly as possible into the worldwide public domain
Public Domain Mark
● not legally operative, but a label to be used by those with knowledge that a work is already in the public domain
● useful for very old works where we know it is in the public domain
● only intended for use with works in worldwide public domain
Examples of CC open license adoption
Examples of country-specific open government license
● “License free”● “Public domain”● “No restrictions on use”● “CC0”● “Most open licensing terms
available”● “CC BY is default”● “Enable free reuse, including
commercial”● “Open Definition is baseline”
● all about minimizing restriction, maximizing reuse!
Many statements, common goal
● Public domain = problems solved● Even better: harmonize limitations &
exceptions● Ongoing “license envy”● So be it, but keep out “poison” clauses
that kill interoperability● Example: OGL 2.0● Good moves: Open Definition WG,
LAPSI 2.0
Challenges
So what should we use?
● Codify & harmonize limitations and exceptions to copyright!
● CC0 to waive copyright worldwide● Open Definition as baseline
○ means, reuse for any purpose (even commercial), with at most requirement to attribute and sharealike
○ conformant licenses = http://opendefinition.org/licenses/
● Push for most progressive policies, as fewer restrictions leads to increased reuse
Resources and getting involved
● Open data handbook - http://opendatahandbook.org/
● LAPSI project - http://www.lapsi-project.eu/ ● EC consultation on PSI Directive - http://bit.
ly/14JyJ8K ● CC affiliates in your country - http://wiki.
creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network
● OKFN, GODI, Sunlight Foundation● Open Definition Working group
Graphics Credits
● Policy Icon - by The Noun Project - Public Domain
● Question Icon - by Rémy Médard, from The Noun Project - CC BY
● Stamp Icon - by Marino Cagnina, from The Noun Project - CC BY
● Big Idea Icon - Public Domain
● Puzzle Icon - by John O’Shea, from the Noun Project - CC BY
This work is dedicated to the public domain. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/.Attribution is optional, but if desired, please attribute to Creative Commons.