PerSpectIves

Licensing and data.gov.uk - some feedback from the web

Here are some comments from the internet on our work with the licensing of data.gov.uk: 

 

“We at CC are thrilled by this new development and congratulate the UK for this move...this shift will increase the UK’s capacity to foster reuse, collaboration, and innovation in government and the world… “

 

Jane Park at Creative Commons – UK moves towards opening government data

 

“We, the citizens of the web, know what Creative Commons means: we don't need to    look it up, we won't need a dictionary, and we won't need a lawyer. Good things will happen as a direct result.”

 

Puffbox.com – Creative Commons coming to data.gov.uk

 

“This may seem quite unexciting, but is a big deal!”

Binary Law: Legal Information in the Digital Age – Crown Commons

 

“…it is reasonable to speculate that the uncovering and unlocking of so much information will drive improvements in public policy.”

 

Guardian 23/01/2010 – Government Information: Creative Commons

 

Licensing and data.gov.uk - we are listening

Following last week’s launch of data.gov.uk we have made some changes to the licence terms and conditions on the site in response to some of the feedback we’ve received.

 

We’ve made the changes to make it clear:

 

§  which information is covered by the data.gov.uk terms and conditions

§  that the data can be re-used both commercially and non-commercially

§  that the Crown has no intention of claiming ownership of ideas and applications that users submit to the site.

 

PSI Guidance Review

 

We are in the process of reviewing and revising much of the current guidance on public sector information (PSI), Crown copyright and licensing on the OPSI website. We would like your input so that we can be sure we have covered the relevant and key issues for you and have provided the guidance you need on the above topics in the way you need it.

 

We plan to use PerSpectIves to gather your suggestions and feedback. Please send your responses by commenting on this post.

 

Current guidance

 

Our guidance can be found at the following links:

 

§  Crown copyright guidance

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/index  

§  Publishing guidance

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/official-publications/publishing-guidance/index  

§  PSI Regulations advice and guidance

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/psi-regulations/advice-and-guidance/index  

§  PSI Regulations guidance notes

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/psi-regulations/advice-and-guidance/psi-guidance-notes/index  

§  Range of frequently asked questions (FAQs) 

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/about/faqs.htm  

 

Call for views

 

We would welcome your views on the current guidance with the following questions as a starting point:

 

§  What are the relevant issues for you and what advice do you find most useful?

§  What seems to be missing when you look for guidance on our site, for example, relevant topics not covered?

§  How can we improve the clarity of our current advice and guidance?

§  How can we improve the delivery of our advice and guidance?

 

These are some specific questions but please feel free to send us other comments on our website advice and guidance.

 

The way ahead

 

We will consider responses over the next three months into March 2010 as part of a wider website content review. Responses after this time will still be welcome and encouraged so that we can continue to improve our guidance and respond to your needs.

Licensing and data.gov.uk launch

The data.gov.uk beta website provides a single access point to over 2,500 central government datasets that have been made available for free re-use.

 

We have drafted a simple and enabling set of terms and conditions for the site which means that the data available through data.gov.uk will be re-usable both commercially and non-commercially.  These terms and conditions have been aligned so that they are interoperable with any Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence.  The terms and conditions are also machine readable meaning that the licence is presented and coded in such a way that applications and programs can access and understand the terms and conditions too.

 

This is the first major step towards the adoption of a non-transactional, Creative Commons style approach to licensing the re-use of government information.  The new model will replace the existing Click-Use Licence.  We are working towards the launch of the new licence model by the end of May 2010.

 

The Government’s commitment in Putting the Frontline First: smarter government is to “establish a common licence to re-use data which is interoperable with the internationally recognised Creative Commons model”.  This is key to supporting new information initiatives such as the beta release of data.gov.uk also launched today to promote transparency, public service improvement and economic growth.

 

Regular visitors to this blog will know that in working to meet this commitment we have been examining a range of licensing options with Creative Commons teams in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand and more recently with the Open Data Commons team in the UK.

 

The Creative Commons 3.0 unported Licence, which has been the focus of our discussions to date, specifically addresses the licensing of copyright content. This licence addresses database rights that are protected by copyright but does not cover other  rights such as the sui generis  database right,  which is a uniquely European Union concept and which is waived in the European versions of the Creative Commons licences.    In licensing terms, databases present specific concerns particularly in the context of derivative works.  For this reason, Open Data Commons came into existence in order to draft “open” licences to meet the requirements of databases and Creative Commons has developed the Creative Commons Zero waiver, designed to waive all copyright and related rights, including the database right.    

 

The Creative Commons teams in the UK are developing a new UK version of their attribution licences for launch in May 2010.  Open Data Commons are planning to release their database attribution licence working to a similar timescale as Creative Commons.

 

We will continue to provide updates on the progress of the new licence model on this blog, but in the meantime we would welcome your feedback.

Intellectual Property Rights Frameworks pilot project launched

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) is calling for public sector organisations planning to commission a digital media project in early 2010 to get involved in a cutting-edge pilot project.

Together with their partners, NESTA has developed six Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Frameworks, designed to offer more flexibility to public organisations looking to procure digital media.

The aim of the pilot is to test these frameworks across different types of public organisations and digital media commissions and evaluate the effectiveness of the frameworks.

The pilot is targeted at public organisations looking to commission new digital media projects. The commissioned projects will be run under one of the frameworks. The impact and effectiveness of the framework for both the public organisation and digital media company will then be evaluated.

For more information visit

www.nesta.org.uk/areas_of_work/creative_industries/digital_innovation/ipr_frameworks438281

Changes to licensing arrangements for Crown copyright information

In an earlier post Exceptions to marginal cost pricing we announced plans for OPSI to cease to licensing the re-use of any Crown copyright content that involves payments.  We can now announce that with effect from 1 December 2009 we are no longer licensing any content that involves payments.  Most information that was previously regarded as value added and licensed under the Value Added Click-Use Licence can now be re-used under the PSI Click-Use Licence.

 

The exceptions to this are information and data produced by those government departments, agencies and trading funds that license Crown copyright information they originate under a delegation of authority granted by the Controller of HMSO. See www.opsi.gov.uk/ifts/ifts-members for a list of these organisations.

 

We are also in discussions with the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) about the re-use of some of their charged publications. We will clarify the situation as soon as possible. In the meantime anyone wanting to re-use any DCLG or ONS priced publications should contact us directly.

New OPSI licensing model - update

Earlier this year we posted our initial thoughts on a new licensing model for Crown copyright information.  There was support for moving to a non-transactional licence on the lines of Creative Commons (CC).  We have discussed potential Creative Commons-style solutions with contacts in Australia and New Zealand where Creative Commons licences are being used for licensing the re-use of public sector information.

 

Discussions are also taking place with Creative Commons to assess the suitability of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY) for the licensing of Crown copyright and other public sector information.

 

We have identified a number of areas where the current version of the Creative CC-BY licence may not meet some of the requirements for licensing Crown copyright

• OPSI’s remit is UK wide and therefore any licence we use to licence Crown copyright must be UK wide. 

The CC-BY licence does not cover database rights. 

There is nothing in the current CC-BY licence to prevent re-users from implying their products are endorsed by the government.  There is also no means for protecting the use of the Royal Arms and other, non-trademark, department logos. 

We need a disclaimer that makes it clear that information in its re-used form does not have official status and that government does not provide any guarantees about the accuracy, currency and content of re-presented information and data.

We are discussing these issues with CC in the context of the licence review that is underway.  This review is due to complete in the Spring and we will have direct input to that process.

No final decisions have been made yet but our aim is to move to a new non-transactional licence in the early part of 2010.

PSI In Action - conference follow-up

On 20 October 2009 we, together with APPSI and the Cabinet Office, supported the second PSI conference, which was organised in conjunction with Civil Service World.  Events (and others such as workshops, working groups and forums, and reports like the UK Annual Report on PSI Re-use) are part of our wider agenda to raise awareness of contemporary and key issues.  We plan these conferences as a forum where interested parties can discuss the issues and grasp the full context of what are the obstacles and highlight the successes.  They are also a measure of just how far we have come in the past year.

 

The following day, in keeping with the sharing of knowledge and information and best practice, we held a PSI Summit - a policy exchange workshop, to share experience and lessons learnt from both UK and Commonwealth colleagues.  International delegates from the conference joined us and colleagues from other government departments to discuss PSI issues.  The various topics throughout the day were licensing, digital engagement and the use of metadata (data curation).  This day highlighted how combined efforts and sharing knowledge can develop solutions and we will continue to exchange best practice and views on where we go from here and how we resolve the issues.

Here are the conference documents together with overviews of both days:

• PSI in Action - Transforming the Information Landscape Conference Overview 
• PSI in Action delegate pack
• Nicholas Gruen Towards a more Felicitous Economy
• William Perrin PSI Lifeblood of Communities
• Ian Trenholm Public Service Delivery How can we Raise the Bar
• Martin Ferguson Public Service Delivery How can we Raise the Bar
• Andrew Stott Beyond PSI_ Extending Digital Engagement
• Nigel Shadbolt Public Information Delivery
• Chris Jenkins Knowledge Sharing Session Competition and Discrimination
• Patricia Seex Knowledge Sharing Session The Price of Information
• Jim Wretham Knowledge Sharing Session Opening up Access to Information
• Knowledge Sharing Session Notes
• International PSI Summit 21 October 2009 Overview  

 

OPSI’s new licensing model – taking the licensing of government content to the next level

On 17 June we posted our initial thoughts about a new licensing model for re-using government content for comment and the post is now closed.  Thank you to everyone who commented.

We are reviewing the comments received and will post further developments here as they happen.

PSI in Action - transforming the information landscape, 20 October 2009

Following the success of last year’s conference, Civil Service World, with support from OPSI, APPSI and the Cabinet Office, is holding a conference this year to discover how PSI is transforming the information landscape and further explore the issues surrounding PSI.  Michael Wills, Minister of State, is a keynote speaker for this event.

PSI in Action will look at how public sector information policy is being developed and shaped and how the PSI agenda is being delivered on three fronts: 

• Economic activity and the benefits to the information industry;
• Social benefits that flow from removing obstacles to re-use; and
• How

re-use can transform public service delivery.

The all day conference will be held on 20 October 2009 in central London.  For further details and to register please go to: www.psiinaction.co.uk