Difference between revisions of "Project:License"

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= License =
 
= License =
 
== Data license ==
 
== Data license ==
Our data content (in the Item and Property namespaces) is covered by the Creative Commons CC0 Waiver (see {{Q|38}}), which states that you are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the work. Our terms of use covers the ethical and social norms for attribution that we expect from research communities. For any reuse or distribution, we would appreciate that you make clear to others the CC0 terms for the work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Again, this license is fairly permissive, so you shouldn't feel paralyzed by legalese if you are interested in using or redistributing our data content. Just be sure to read the terms of use and if you have any questions about fair use, don't hesitate to contact us. A detailed FAQ on CC0 can be found [https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ here], which was written by the Wikimedia community.  
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Our data content (in the Item and Property namespaces) is covered by the Creative Commons CC0 Waiver (see {{Q|38}}), which states that you are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the work. '''Our [[Project:Terms_of_use|terms of use]] page covers the ethical and social norms for attribution that we expect from research, journalistic and activist communities'''. For any reuse or distribution, we would appreciate that you make clear to others the CC0 terms for the work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Again, this license is fairly permissive, so you shouldn't feel paralyzed by legalese if you are interested in using or redistributing our data content. Just be sure to read the [[Project:Terms_of_use|terms of use]] and if you have any questions about fair use, don't hesitate to contact us. A detailed FAQ on CC0 can be found [https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ here], which was written by the Wikimedia community.  
  
=== Why? ===
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=== Why not a copyleft license on data? ===
We came to the conclusion that this was the best licensing model after some hesitation. This hesitation stemmed from the hope that it would be possible to construct a copyleft data license, or reuse the only existing one ({{Q|1583}}). We became convinced this was futile and thus a bad idea through reading these references: {{Q|2008}}.
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We came to the conclusion that this was the best licensing model at this stage after some hesitation. This hesitation stemmed from the hope that it would be possible to construct a copyleft data license, or reuse the only existing one ({{Q|1583}}). We became convinced this was futile, at least for now, and thus a bad idea through reading these references: {{Q|2008}}. This decision is - in this direction at least - reversible. We can switch to a copyleft license later.  
  
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We want to highlight a key quote from {{Q|2906}}:
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{{Quote
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|text=
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Eben Moglen has often pointed out that anyone who attacks the GPL is at a disadvantage, because if they somehow show that the license is legally invalid, then they get copyright’s “default”: which is to say, they don’t get anything. So they are forced to fight about the specific terms, rather than the validity of the license as a whole.
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In contrast, in much of the world (and certainly in the US), if you show that a database license is legally invalid, then you get database’s default: which is to say, you get everything. So someone who doesn’t want to follow the copyleft has very, very strong incentives to demolish your license altogether.
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|author={{Q|2906}}
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|title=''{{Q|2905}}''
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}}
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Essential to understanding the importance of this quote is that '''databases are not universally recognized as protected through copyright, unlike software'''.
 +
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So what should we do instead, especially given that we want to recognize the work of everyone in this space?  The tl,dr of ''{{Q|2907}}'' is "say no to licenses, say yes to norms". This is what we tried to define above, linking to our [[Project:Terms_of_use|terms of use]].
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=== But you could have used my favorite license instead! ===
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This is unlikely:
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* '''ODbL''' (copyleft database licensed, used by OpenStreeMap), had - [https://joemorrison.medium.com/openstreetmap-is-having-a-moment-dcc7eef1bb01 until very recently but it might be changing] - not had a successful run. See this quote:
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{{Quote
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|text=
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"Unfortunately, many people have a good-faith desire to see copyleft-like results in other domains. As a result, they’ve gone the wrong way on this point.
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ODbL is probably the most blatant example of this: even at the time, Science Commons correctly pointed out that ODbL’s attempt to create database rights by contract outside of the EU was a bad idea.
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Unfortunately, well-intentioned people (including me!) pushed it through anyway. Similarly, open hardware proponents have tried to stretch copyright to cover functional works, with predictably messy results."
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|author={{Q|2906}}, who worked for OpenStreetMap at the time}}
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* '''CC-BY-SA''' is likely to work against your goals if you are based in Europe and select countries:
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{{Quote
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|text="Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material..."
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|author={{Q|45}}}}
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<br>
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{{Quote
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|text="It is important to remember that ''sui generis'' database rights exist in only a few countries outside the European Union, such as Korea and Mexico. Generally, if you are using a CC-licensed database in a location where those rights do not exist, you do not have to comply with license restrictions or conditions unless copyright (or some other licensed right) is implicated.
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Note that if you are using a database in a jurisdiction where you must respect database rights, and you receive a CC-licensed work from someone located in a jurisdiction without database rights, you should determine whether database rights exist and have been licensed."
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|author=[https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Data#What_constitutes_a_.E2.80.9Csubstantial_portion.E2.80.9D_of_a_database.3F Creative Commons Official FAQ]}}
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* See also [https://twitter.com/richardf/status/1409804879422439427?s=20 this reference to Feist v Rural] by @richardf
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=== Other datasets ===
 
For convenience, we maintain a list of [[related datasets]] and their licenses.
 
For convenience, we maintain a list of [[related datasets]] and their licenses.
  
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We think there might be interesting options to explore with copyleft mixed licenses. We would love to have a deeper conversation with you on those topics. Please do reach out.
 
We think there might be interesting options to explore with copyleft mixed licenses. We would love to have a deeper conversation with you on those topics. Please do reach out.
 
= Terms of Use =
 
== Contributing ==
 
 
When adding data here, your contributions should reflect your best understanding of what you are representing. Whenever possible, contributions should be referenced by published, peer-reviewed literature or research. You can manually transcribe content from the following resources with appropriate attribution:
 
* text books
 
* research articles and reviews
 
* public databases and resources
 
* trusted online resources, including Wikipedia
 
* your own research and hypotheses (reasonably tested)
 
 
You should not make contributions based on work presented by other researchers yet to be published or based on proprietary sources (purchased databases, company secrets, etc). You should also not create content from other content in an automated way, unless that content is CC0 too.
 
 
== Downloading ==
 
 
You can download our content in any of the available data and image formats we provide.
 
Massive downloads might be a drain of resources, so please be considerate. In most cases it will be sufficient to flag your use of our systems so we can advise you on how to do things more frugally.
 
 
== Using ==
 
 
You are free to use our content in presentations, documents, websites and publications. You are free to use our content in analyses, qualitative or quantitative. We appreciate it if you cite or give appropriate attribution to PersonalData.IO, since we believe this to be in accordance with community and professional norms and standards of all the domains we interact with (academia, journalism, activism, etc). See Attribution below.
 
 
== Redistributing ==
 
 
You are free to redistribute our content on your website, as part of your own resource, with your own software application. You are free to charge for services associated with our content, but we would be very disappointed if you would charge users for the content itself, since the content is freely available here anyways. This does not prevent you from redistributing the content on a CD or as a digital download along with software that you are charging for, however we would appreciate that you make clear that the content is free and freely available from wiki.PersonalData.IO. This does not prevent you from charging for services including additional curation, modification or analysis of the content, but we sincerely hope that you make clear that the content is free and freely available from wiki.PersonalData.IO. You may even sell modified versions of  our content, e.g., as art, on your website, and we would love you to make clear that the content is free and freely available from wiki.personaldata.io. We think you get the idea: we would not be happy if you are making money of content, which other users freely donated to the community. So please, be a good person and do not charge for the content as provided by wiki.personaldata.io and if you do associate the content with something you are are selling, add a statement to make clear that the content is free and freely available from wiki.personaldata.io. See Attribution below
 
 
== Adapting, Dissecting, Augmenting ==
 
 
You are free to download, use and redistribute any part of our data according to the Terms of Use. You are free to augment, extend and build upon the content outside of wiki.personaldata.io and then use or redistribute according to the Terms of Use. You are free to edit, subtract from and change the content outside of wiki.personaldata.io and then use or redistribute according to the Terms of Use. Of course, we believe it is better to make edits directly to the content within wiki.personaldata.io itself, to grow the content and share alike, but this is not strictly required. If there is a feature or function you require in order to perform an edit to the content, do not hesitate to contact us and participate in the design and implementation of the new feature yourself. This is an open source project, after all!
 
 
== Attribution ==
 
When referring to the latest website or content, please cite us in the following way:
 
 
PersonalData.IO, the integrative toolbox addressing Surveillance Capitalism. See http://wiki.personaldata.io.
 

Latest revision as of 10:01, 29 June 2021

License

Data license

Our data content (in the Item and Property namespaces) is covered by the Creative Commons CC0 Waiver (see Creative Commons CC0 License (Q38)), which states that you are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the work. Our terms of use page covers the ethical and social norms for attribution that we expect from research, journalistic and activist communities. For any reuse or distribution, we would appreciate that you make clear to others the CC0 terms for the work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Again, this license is fairly permissive, so you shouldn't feel paralyzed by legalese if you are interested in using or redistributing our data content. Just be sure to read the terms of use and if you have any questions about fair use, don't hesitate to contact us. A detailed FAQ on CC0 can be found here, which was written by the Wikimedia community.

Why not a copyleft license on data?

We came to the conclusion that this was the best licensing model at this stage after some hesitation. This hesitation stemmed from the hope that it would be possible to construct a copyleft data license, or reuse the only existing one (Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0 (Q1583)). We became convinced this was futile, at least for now, and thus a bad idea through reading these references: List of references on data licenses (Q2008). This decision is - in this direction at least - reversible. We can switch to a copyleft license later.

We want to highlight a key quote from Luis Villa (Q2906):

Eben Moglen has often pointed out that anyone who attacks the GPL is at a disadvantage, because if they somehow show that the license is legally invalid, then they get copyright’s “default”: which is to say, they don’t get anything. So they are forced to fight about the specific terms, rather than the validity of the license as a whole. In contrast, in much of the world (and certainly in the US), if you show that a database license is legally invalid, then you get database’s default: which is to say, you get everything. So someone who doesn’t want to follow the copyleft has very, very strong incentives to demolish your license altogether.

Essential to understanding the importance of this quote is that databases are not universally recognized as protected through copyright, unlike software.

So what should we do instead, especially given that we want to recognize the work of everyone in this space? The tl,dr of Public licenses and data: So what to do instead? (Q2907) is "say no to licenses, say yes to norms". This is what we tried to define above, linking to our terms of use.

But you could have used my favorite license instead!

This is unlikely:

Unfortunately, many people have a good-faith desire to see copyleft-like results in other domains. As a result, they’ve gone the wrong way on this point.

ODbL is probably the most blatant example of this: even at the time, Science Commons correctly pointed out that ODbL’s attempt to create database rights by contract outside of the EU was a bad idea.

Unfortunately, well-intentioned people (including me!) pushed it through anyway. Similarly, open hardware proponents have tried to stretch copyright to cover functional works, with predictably messy results.

— Luis Villa (Q2906), who worked for OpenStreetMap at the time
  • CC-BY-SA is likely to work against your goals if you are based in Europe and select countries:

Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material...


It is important to remember that sui generis database rights exist in only a few countries outside the European Union, such as Korea and Mexico. Generally, if you are using a CC-licensed database in a location where those rights do not exist, you do not have to comply with license restrictions or conditions unless copyright (or some other licensed right) is implicated. Note that if you are using a database in a jurisdiction where you must respect database rights, and you receive a CC-licensed work from someone located in a jurisdiction without database rights, you should determine whether database rights exist and have been licensed.

Other datasets

For convenience, we maintain a list of related datasets and their licenses.

Software license

MediaWiki and the various extensions used for our hosting software have licenses listed at Special:Version.

The user-contributed software (for instance the user scripts and the gadgets in the MediaWiki namespace) are by default contributed under CC-BY-SA. This is due to Wikidata having that same license for its software and the expectation that contributors will cut and paste freely from Wikipedia and Wikidata.

Wikipedia and Wikidata encourage contributors to double license original contribution under the GPL, and we do the same here, on a per file basis.

We think there might be interesting options to explore with copyleft mixed licenses. We would love to have a deeper conversation with you on those topics. Please do reach out.