Hi all,<br><br>Just in case anyone is in any doubt, it is absolutely illegal to use this data without a license. Perhaps a better analogy is that of downloading an album from thepiratebay because this is data that has been created by someone and protected by copyright as a result. If you didn't pay for the album you're not legally allowed to download it, the same is true of the postcode data. Of course it's very useful but Royal Mail have got a history of pursuing people who attempt to use this stuff illegally. It's a real shame, personally I'm on the side of the freeourdata campaign but until that bears fruit I would advise people not to touch this. Especially for use in the public domain.<br>
<br>Tom<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 5:41 PM, Joanne Cook <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:j.cook@oxfordarch.co.uk">j.cook@oxfordarch.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Now this brings up an interesting dilemma- thanks to John for starting it off!<br>
<br>
On one hand, the UK chapter has a policy of only supporting and documenting data that is legally freely available, and I think we'd be unwilling to include anything from wikileaks in that list. However, it's incredibly useful data that's hard to obtain from any other source, and as someone said recently, perhaps even about the same leak- you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. I hope that this disclosure leads to a better and more open system in future.<br>
<br>
Jo<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5">----- Original Message -----<br>
From: "Andrew Larcombe" <<a href="mailto:andrew@andrewlarcombe.co.uk">andrew@andrewlarcombe.co.uk</a>><br>
To: "osgeo-uk" <<a href="mailto:uk@lists.osgeo.org">uk@lists.osgeo.org</a>><br>
Sent: Monday, 21 September, 2009 17:03:39 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal<br>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-UK] UK postcode database<br>
<br>
<br>
On 21 Sep 2009, at 16:40, Barry Rowlingson wrote:<br>
<br>
> On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 3:55 PM, John A Stevenson<br>
> <<a href="mailto:john.stevenson@manchester.ac.uk">john.stevenson@manchester.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br>
>> The UK postcode database has been posted on Wikileaks.<br>
>><br>
>> Now, just like a TomTom(TM) or GoogleEarth(TM), you too can find<br>
>> the lat-lon<br>
>> of any address in the UK.<br>
>><br>
>> <a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/" target="_blank">http://wikileaks.org/wiki/</a><br>
>> UK_government_database_of_all_1,841,177_post_codes_together_with_prec<br>
>> ise_geographic_coordinates_and_other_information,_8_Jul_2009<br>
><br>
> What's the difference between that and:<br>
><br>
> "A torrent file of MS Office has been put on <a href="http://www.thepiratebay.org" target="_blank">www.thepiratebay.org</a>,<br>
> now you too can write documents and make spreadsheets"<br>
><br>
> Whatever we may think of open government and open data, I think the<br>
> postcode database is still copyright material and distribution via<br>
> wikileaks or any other mechanism is surely legally dubious.<br>
<br>
Your analogy doesn't quite hold up as there are many ways to create<br>
documents and spreadsheets, but only one source of data for postcodes.<br>
<br>
It is still copyright though etc...<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
A<br>
<br>
--<br>
Andrew Larcombe<br>
Freelance Geospatial, Database & Web Programming<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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-----------------------------------------------------<br>
Joanne Cook<br>
Senior IT Support and Development<br>
Oxford Archaeology (North)<br>
01524 880212<br>
<a href="http://thehumanjourney.net" target="_blank">http://thehumanjourney.net</a><br>
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