SDI-policy and law By Jaap Zevenbergen and adapted by Arnold Bregt

SDI and policy PeoplePolicyData Standards Technology

Definition Policy – a course of action that has been officially agreed and chosen by a political party, business or other organization (Longman Dictionary) Policy vs. laws or rules e.g. Policy in California aiming at increased use of hybrid cars (tax breaks, benefits);

Question What is the influence of policy on SDI?

Question What influence may policy have on other SDI components: (People, Data, Technology, Standards) Policy on data access hampers WFS usage (policy vs. technology) Gov. policy on protection of Military Sites information (policy vs. data) Policy on using specific standards (policy vs. standards) Policy on data access may exclude some people from access to data (policy vs. people)

SDI Policy documents

GIDEON Stategy

Example source: Google Earth

Policy & Legal Issues Access to geo-information freedom of information (transparency) access policies (’free or fee’) re-use of public information (value adding) Property Rights vs. Contracts Protection of investments (e.g. copyright) Privacy

Property Rights vs Contracts Roots of law are agreements between people Distinguish between: agreements between two parties (contracts) agreements between a party and the rest of society ((property) rights)

Property Rights vs Contracts traditional law: you make something, and either you have it, or you give/sell to someone else --> contract (geo) data: duplication for nearly no cost by a ‘free rider’, but can damage interests of collector,

Contract between parties Seller and buyer (sales contract) (limited) use right (license) What does the seller promise ? certain quality (accuracy, uptodate, fit-for-purpose) certain delivery time What does the buyer promise ? payment not passing it on not making the seller liable (exclusive clauses..)

Exclusive clauses to limit exposure to potential liability Disclaimers:...GEOfirm does not warranty the accuracy of the data and shall not be liable for any consequence of its use... Caveats:...this product does not intend to represent exact reality...this product is subjected to copyright. Reproduction in any form requires written permission from GEOfirm...

Contract between parties try to arrange for eventualities negotiate, know what each is expecting (what is the data really; what do you want to do with it really,..) in reality, often ‘click and wrap licenses’, not really reading it; good meta-data crucial (but read ?) what if a third party gets hold of data (set), e.g. finding it, stealing it, getting it: how can you protect your investment ?

Protection of investments Collection of (large) geospatial data sets is huge investment What can be used to protect this ? copyright unfair competition database extraction right contracts

Copyright protects intellectual achievement not economic investments as such demands originality, whereas most (large scale) geospatial data contains facts (--> GBKN) certain organization in database or map might be original, but ‘free rider’ can copy facts lasts 70 years (after death of producer) NL: government agencies have to claim it: ©

Privacy right to be left alone protection of data of personal nature related to identified or identifiable individual information may be used for determining decisions of government or companies (‘social attitudes’) often individual not aware of information

Data of personal nature Distribution of the use of types cable TV licenses

Privacy Art. 8 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) EU Directive , No. 95/46/EC Art. 8 EU Charter of Fundamental Rights ‘Protection of personal data’: 1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. 2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and...

Privacy main principles transparency of data processing limitation on collection, use and disclosure security of data processing being informed about processing (NL: esp. re-use should not be contradictory to original purpose) sometimes object to automated decisions based on profiles of data subjects

SDI-Policy (February 2, 2010)

Naked on the roof source: Google Earth

Summary Policy has a strong influence on data access conditions The world-wide trend is towards more open data. Privacy aspects are becoming more important.

Questions