Licensing Geographic Data and Services (2004) / Chapter Skim
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7 The Public Interest
7 The Public Interest
Pages 157-176
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This chapter discusses a sampling of public interest considerations that affect governmental policy for obtaining and sharing geographic data. Some factors suggest reasons to acquire geographic data outright, whereas others suggest that licensing data with use or dissemination restrictions is acceptable or even preferred.
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. 3Chapter 6 discusses the role of public domain information in fostering further development of geographic data products (see in particular Section 6.2)
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The benefits of a robust public domain thus are likely to be undervalued, even though they are real and significant.7 Market forces are unlikely to capture the benefits of a robust public domain for basic research. Many research scientists, especially in universities and other nonprofit institutions, follow a fundamentally different mode based on open publication and shared discoveries.8 Recent experiments with open source have extended this basic model to various nonprofit and commercial environments.9 Although these developments are relatively new, they suggest that in some areas public domain innovations contribute significant benefits to society in both commercial and noncommercial contexts.
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Careful consideration of data acquisition strategies can go far in preserving and enhancing the public domain in geographic data. When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require agency policy makers to take into account the role of the federal government in maintaining and enhancing the public domain in geographic data.
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Licensing and more limited rights may suffice, as long as any restrictions on access to government data do not result in political or judicial outcomes that favor those with access over those precluded from access by the restrictions. When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require that agency policy makers take into account the need for _____________ 13See Chapter 5, Section 5.4.2.
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national security include enhancing American military capabilities and diplomatic influence while denying similar capabilities to hostile governments and terrorists. Among the options for satisfying these goals are preserving access to essential remote-sensing assets, denying satellite data to potential adversaries, and restricting access to other geographic data.15 National security priorities change over time, and data declassification also has potential benefits.16 7.4.1 Preserving Access to Essential Assets17 National militaries have always drawn strength from their respective economies.
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commercial satellite operators must receive government operating licenses21 and commit to various national security goals. Although operating licenses have been an important mechanism for achieving national security goals, the system is inherently limited because there are practical limits to what the government can demand; if authorities impose too many requirements, firms will go out of business or leave the industry.
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When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require agency policy makers to take into account the need to ensure that geographic data resources needed for national security remain available to the government and unavailable to adversaries. 7.4.3 Restricting Other Geographic Data When restricting access to geographic data, governments must balance legitimate uses against the possibility of abuse.26 The former Soviet _____________ 24J.
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The principal reaction has been to accelerate the development of a so-called "sensitive but unclassified" category for government data.29 In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security initiated a "Protected Critical Infrastructure Information Program"30 that solicits potentially sensitive information from private and other sources and, if the information qualifies for "protection," restricts its distribution through such means as providing immunity from FOIA requests. the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information, Santa Monica, CA, Rand Corp.
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They could, for example, let private entities decide how to redistribute sensitive data affecting their installations, although this strategy might let private entities restrict access for improper reasons, such as avoiding public scrutiny. Licenses also could be used to allow academic researchers, journalists, and other prescreened individuals to have access.31 Conclusion: When deciding whether to restrict geographic data access on national security grounds, policy makers must carefully weigh the need for restricted access against the public's interest in being informed and having access to important information about their communities and environment.
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The reverse is also true: Once national security concerns fade, government must act decisively to resume widespread distribution. Conclusion: When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require agency policy makers to take into account the need to declassify classified geographic data to make them widely available when protection is no longer warranted.
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On the other hand, it is also important for law enforcement agencies to keep in mind that government use of licensed data and services must be consistent with Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure and that license terms cannot be used to circumvent them.38 Depending on the license terms and the relationship between the _____________ 37Testimony of Randy Johnson, Hennepin County, Minnesota. 38We do not attempt to discuss in any depth the legal constraints on obtaining and using information gained from aerial photographs and satellite imagery.
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And law enforcement agencies should not impose restrictions on public access to geographic data except when there is clear evidence of such need. 7.7 PRIVACY Aerial photography and satellite imagery reach into backyards and businesses.39 Government agencies, commercial firms, and individuals routinely use these data to conduct surveillance.
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In some cases, formal license restrictions may provide a more effective barrier against misuse than technical protections based on blurred or aggregated data. Conclusion: When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require agency policy makers to take into account the need to ensure the protection of privacy.
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To some extent, government cannot help influencing the rest of society; government data purchases and licensing agreements are often so large that private and nonprofit providers have a built-in incentive to make their own institutions and standards conform. In other cases, government may consciously intervene to foster communitywide strategies for locating and exchanging data.45 Although government agencies have primary responsibility for government data, they also rely on commercial firms to perform metadata or _____________ 44Metadata is information about data; for example, it might record such details as the collector, the sensor used, and when the data were collected (see Federal Geographic Data Committee, 1998, Data Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, available at |
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Most government archives house data originally collected by or for government,46 but commercial satellite licenses blur this distinction of government-only data by requiring vendors to inform agencies before privately owned data are deleted -- in which case government may take over data archiving responsibilities to support ongoing missions or the public interest.47 For example, USGS's Sioux Falls archive houses satellite data collected by the French company Systeme Probatoire Pour l'Observation _____________ 46For example, NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers archive data from NASA and partner agency missions. For details of their holdings, see, NRC, 1998, Review of NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers, Washington, D.C., National Academies Press.
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The ability of anyone to fully scrutinize and freely experiment with the data, along with the lack of need to pay royalties, enhances its reuse as raw material for value-added activities by commercial firms, government agencies, and academic researchers. Conclusion: When establishing data acquisition policies, agency mandates and missions may require policy makers to take into account the need to promote data sharing and reuse, development of consensus standards, and archiving of data.
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Government also can use licenses to promote reuse of geographic data by negotiating terms that limit commercial firms' ability to discard data prematurely, promoting uniform and high-quality metadata, and encouraging standards that make geographic data interoperable across a wide range of hardware, software, and data products. In the next chapter, we integrate public interest, legal, and economic considerations into a process for deciding when licensing to or from government may be appropriate.
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While they act locally, Betty and Jack contemplate a "global commons" consisting of a broad and continually growing set of freely usable and accessible geographic datasets. They believe the dream could be made real by providing the ability for geographic data contributors to quickly and easily create metadata and open access licenses.
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As they get up to leave, Jack remarks that if such a system could be developed, there are probably tens of thousands of individuals similar to themselves already creating valuable geographic data who would now have sufficient means and incentives to make their files available to the rest of the world. Betty agrees.
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