[Aust-NZ] FW: [OGC Press Release] The OGC forms a Spatial Law and Policy Committee [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Bruce Bannerman]

Apologies for cross posting.

Bruce Bannerman

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> media-bounces+b.bannerman=bom.gov.au at lists.opengeospatial.org 
> [mailto:media-bounces+b.bannerman=bom.gov.au at lists.opengeospat
ial.org] On Behalf Of OGC Press
> Sent: Thursday, 26 February 2009 6:43 AM
> To: media at lists.opengeospatial.org
> Subject: [OGC Press Release] The OGC forms a Spatial Law and 
> Policy Committee
> 
> PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information 
> about this announcement, contact:
> 
> Sam Bacharach
> Executive Director, Outreach and Community Adoption Open 
> Geospatial Consortium, Inc
> tel: +1-703-352-3938
> sbacharach at opengeospatial.org
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> 
> 
> 
> February 25, 2009, Wayland, Massachusetts. The Board of 
> Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC(r)) has 
> chartered a committee of the Board to specifically address 
> the "spatial law and policy issues"
> which will influence development requirements of the 
> Consortium's technology process. The Spatial Law and Policy 
> Committee (SLPC) will be chaired by OGC director and 
> Executive Committee member, Kevin Pomfret, and will be 
> organized under board leadership as an educational forum to 
> include both select member and community participation.
> 
> In the past, legal issues associated with spatial data and 
> technology were primarily a concern for lawyers that worked 
> with or for the government. Now, both public sector and 
> private sector users and providers of geospatial data and 
> technologies face a wide range of legal issues associated 
> with growth in consumer and business applications for spatial 
> technology. Such applications include Earth browsers, 
> satellite navigation devices in cars and PDA's, 
> location-based services associated with cell phones, business 
> intelligence, social networking and satellite tracking of 
> vehicles and equipment. All of these applications raise 
> issues that involve intellectual property rights, liability, 
> privacy, and national security. In many cases, the existing 
> legal and policy framework is inadequate to provide 
> governments, businesses and consumers clear guidance on these issues.
> 
> David Schell, OGC Chairman, said, "The OGC plays an expanding 
> role in addressing society's increasing dependence on 
> geospatial information services. The advent of information 
> interoperability in this technology domain raises the profile 
> of geospatial information for policy makers, managers and 
> scientists around the world. The Board's creation at this 
> time of a Spatial Law and Policy Committee reflects the 
> increasing need of leaders to understand the challenges they 
> face in this area, and the Board's commitment to meeting 
> their related information requirements."
> 
> Kevin Pomfret added, "I am looking forward to working with 
> the OGC and its members on these important issues. Due in 
> large part to their collective vision and hard work, spatial 
> technology and applications using spatial data are 
> increasingly being utilized in a wide range of important 
> activities. In order for this growth to continue, a solid 
> legal and policy framework must exist. The OGC's Spatial Law 
> and Policy Committee can play a critical role in the 
> development of such a framework."
> 
> The SLPC, in particular, will provide an open forum for OGC members'
> legal and policy advisors to discuss the unique legal and 
> policy issues associated with spatial data and technology. 
> The Committee will also work with relevant legal groups, such 
> as the ABA, to raise awareness of these issues within the 
> broader legal community. The SLPC will not provide legal 
> advice to the OGC or its Members and will not take a position 
> on any legal or policy matter on behalf of the OGC or its 
> membership. It will rather focus on clarification of the 
> legal and policy environment of the Consortium and work to 
> ensure that Consortium standards reflect related best 
> practices and the societal requirements that shape 
> institutional uptake of interoperable geoprocessing.
> 
> Kevin Pomfret is a Richmond, Virginia based attorney well 
> known for the work he has done on assorted legal issues 
> associated with spatial data and technology, including 
> intellectual property rights, licensing, liability, privacy 
> and national security. Prior to entering the law, he served 
> as a satellite imagery analyst with the U.S.
> government where he specialized in the development of imagery 
> collection strategies to monitor critical arms control 
> agreements. He also served in various U.S. government 
> positions responsible for developing Intelligence community 
> satellite imagery collections and exploitation requirements. 
> Over the years he has written and spoken extensively on 
> spatial law and technology.
> 
> The OGC(r) is an international consortium of more than 370 
> companies, government agencies, research organizations, and 
> universities participating in a consensus process to develop 
> publicly available geospatial standards. The OGC's 
> OpenGIS(TM) standards support interoperable solutions that 
> "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, 
> and mainstream IT. These standards empower technology 
> developers to make geospatial information and services 
> accessible and useful with any application that needs to be 
> geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at 
> http://www.opengeospatial.org/.
> _______________________________________________
> Press and Media mailing list
> Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
> 35 Main Street, Suite 5, Wayland, MA 01778 USA 
> Media at lists.opengeospatial.org Subscribe/unsubscribe for OGC 
> lists at  http://www.opengeospatial.org/resources/?page=email
> Other List Options available at
>  https://lists.opengeospatial.org/mailman/listinfo/media 
>