Zzzoot

My earlier entry/rant, It's not Open Data, so stop calling it that... about the non-Open Data nature of a number of Canadian cities' Open Data initiatives is supported by the just released Ten Principles for Opening Up Government Information from the Sunlight Foundation . Specifically: 6. Non-discrimination "Non-discrimination" refers to who can access data and how they must do so. Barriers to use of data can include registration or membership requirements. Another barrier is the uses of "walled garden," which is when only some applications are allowed access to data. At its broadest, non-discriminatory access to data means that any person can access the data at any time without having to identify him/herself or provide any justification for doing so. 8. Licensing The imposition of "Terms of Service," attribution requirements, restrictions on dissemination and so on acts as barriers to public use of d...

While it is a great positive change that data is being released through numerous efforts around the world, data release is not the same as Open Data release . A number of Canadian cities have announced Open Data initiatives, but they are not releasing Open Data. They are just releasing data. Of course, this is better than not releasing data. But let's at least be honest about what we are doing. Why aren't they Open Data? Because their licenses are not Open Data licenses: Not Open Data : Edmonton: " The City may, in its sole discretion, cancel or suspend your access to the datasets without notice and for any reason ..." - from Terms of Use Not Open Data : Vancouver: "The City may, in its sole discretion, cancel or suspend your access to the datasets without notice and for any reason..." - Terms of Use Not Open Data : Ottawa: " The City may, in its sole discretion, cancel or suspend your access to the datasets without notice and f...