[OSGeo-UK] UK postcode database

[Tom (JDi Solutions)]

Hi all,

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.

Tom

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 5:41 PM, Joanne Cook <j.cook at oxfordarch.co.uk>wrote:

> Now this brings up an interesting dilemma- thanks to John for starting it
> off!
>
> 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.
>
> Jo
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Larcombe" <andrew at andrewlarcombe.co.uk>
> To: "osgeo-uk" <uk at lists.osgeo.org>
> Sent: Monday, 21 September, 2009 17:03:39 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland,
> Portugal
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-UK] UK postcode database
>
>
> On 21 Sep 2009, at 16:40, Barry Rowlingson wrote:
>
> > On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 3:55 PM, John A Stevenson
> > <john.stevenson at manchester.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> The UK postcode database has been posted on Wikileaks.
> >>
> >> Now, just like a TomTom(TM) or GoogleEarth(TM), you too can find
> >> the lat-lon
> >> of any address in the UK.
> >>
> >> http://wikileaks.org/wiki/
> >> UK_government_database_of_all_1,841,177_post_codes_together_with_prec
> >> ise_geographic_coordinates_and_other_information,_8_Jul_2009
> >
> >  What's the difference between that and:
> >
> >  "A torrent file of MS Office has been put on www.thepiratebay.org,
> > now you too can write documents and make spreadsheets"
> >
> >  Whatever we may think of open government and open data, I think the
> > postcode database is still copyright material and distribution via
> > wikileaks or any other mechanism is surely legally dubious.
>
> Your analogy doesn't quite hold up as there are many ways to create
> documents and spreadsheets, but only one source of data for postcodes.
>
> It is still copyright though etc...
>
> Cheers,
>
> A
>
> --
> Andrew Larcombe
> Freelance Geospatial, Database & Web Programming
>
>
>
>
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>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Joanne Cook
> Senior IT Support and Development
> Oxford Archaeology (North)
> 01524 880212
> http://thehumanjourney.net
>
>
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