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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | RE: GISList: New global population density dataset |
| Date: |
12/07/2001 10:34:42 AM |
| From: |
Dimitri Rotow |
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> | What's the URL?
>
> Sorry! I forgot that:
> http://sedac.ciesin.org/plue/gpw/landscan/
>
Well, this is a very interesting data set, but the way they are distributing
it is also very unusual. To get to the data one has to jump through a
number of registration hoops, and CIESIN seems to be claiming ownership of
this federal data.
The information page is at
http://uas.ciesin.org/cgi-bin/charlotte?protocol=uas&state=Landscan_readme&e
vent=readme and states that Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL,
www.ornl.gov) is the creator of LandScan 2000.
and the metadata document is at
http://uas.ciesin.org/cgi-bin/charlotte?protocol=uas&state=Landscan_metadata
&event=metadata
In the metadata document CIESIN lists itself as an "originator" of the data
and also appears to claim copyright in it, to wit:
"Users are free to copy CIESIN-authored materials for personal and
noncommercial use from the CIESIN web site as long as content is not
altered, and copyright ownership by CIESIN is acknowledged. All other rights
are reserved."
In the same metadata document, CIESIN attempts to limit usage: "These data
are for noncommercial use only. No third party distribution of all, or
parts, of the electronic files is authorized."
It seems to me that if LandScan 2000 was created by ORNL it is in the public
domain, period. Unless ORNL copyrighted the data and assigned the copyright
to CIESIN, they have no business making either an express or implied
copyright claim. For that matter, if it's a federal data product they have
no business limiting public use of it.
Anybody know more about what's going on in this? Are there any ORNL folks
on this list who could comment?
Cheers,
Dimitri
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