- Access to public information.
- For public information to be truly exploited, it needs to be as widely available as possible.
from EC Directive 2003/98/EC on the exploitation of public sector information:
Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content... Broad cross-border geographical coverage will also be essential in this context.
- Ability to analyse public information for social good.
Geographic data underpins services such as http://writetothem.com/ and http://theyworkforyou.com/
- Participation in public services, transport and planning all rely on access to this information.
- Expansion of economic activity
- Lack of database copyright restrictions is proven to generate activity
- Opening the data leads to increased competitiveness in the service market
- Open data means more innovation.
- Strengths of "Commons" licensing model
- An "Attribution-Sharealike" license would require the user to redistribute updates to the data.
- Non-commercial use is not on a "supplication" basis; benefit is maximised.
- Social failure of current pay-for "cost-recovery" model
- Over 50% of sales are to government - a false economy of 60 million UKP
- Ordinary citizens and non-profits can't afford the data