The way the government makes its vast amounts of data available to the public could be about to change. It has decided to make access to a database of UK laws completely free for the public to access and re-use....
It is a victory for campaigners who think public sector information should be free for the public to use....
The focus of this issue has revolved around The Statute Law Database, a huge undertaking designed to catalogue all existing legislation in the UK.
It has been ten years in the making and has eaten up public funds along the way. Because of this, the government was keen initially to make some money back on it.
The decision to make it completely free is a landmark one, said Jim Wretham, head of Information Policy at the Office of Public Sector Information.
"It is a tremendously important resource. It marks a sea-change in the general thinking about the way government information becomes available," he said....
"In the case of Ordnance Survey the government is dependent on the income it generates to cover the cost of making the maps," said Mr Wretham. But, he admits, the way government information is used in the public domain is due for a shake-up. "The Office of Fair Trading recently published a report on the commercial use of public information and certain aspects of our licensing activities were questioned," he said. "The time is ripe for improvement," he added.
The government has until the end of March to respond to the findings of the Office of Fair Trading....
It could mean that fees are removed completely and would be a huge victory for campaigners and websites keen to exploit the vast resources of government databases....
PS: For background on OA to the Statute Law Database, see my blog post from December 21, 2006. For background on the Office of Fair Trading report supporting the case for OA to public information, see my post from December 8, 2006.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/12/2007 10:19:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
