With the launch of the data.gov.uk beta website – providing access to over 2,500 central government datasets – comes a new licensing model for government information which it is intended will be launched government-wide by the end of May 2010 to replace the existing “Click-Use” licence.
The new licence is interoperable with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence and provides that you are free:
- to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to Remix – to adapt the work
provide that you
- acknowledge the copyright and the source of the information, but not in a way that suggests we endorse you or your use of the information
- ensure that you do not distort, mutilate, modify or take other derogatory action in relation to the information
With the understanding that … blah, blah – see the data.gov.uk T&C.
This may seem quite unexciting, but is a big deal!
Don’t quite understand: can we continue to make robust criticism and to ridicule white papers or stupid Ts&Cs, if we feel they are absurd?
In an age of creative commons licencing, giving the public clear permission to reuse content I’d like to see a similar approach to Government content whether that’s photography, written texts, audio recordings or data. Thanks for your info.
DUI Attorney