Comments on: can the government just give it away? http://hughmcguire.net/2007/10/09/can-the-government-just-give-it-away/ publishing, technology, media, philosophy, a bit of politics. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:02:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hugh http://hughmcguire.net/2007/10/09/can-the-government-just-give-it-away/comment-page-1/#comment-1481 Hugh Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:14:15 +0000 http://hughmcguire.net/2007/10/09/can-the-government-just-give-it-away/#comment-1481 you might be right, but a few comments: -there is no (significant) marginal cost, ie. giving away ten data sets is more or less equivalent to giving away 100 ... so while foreigners might not produce tex receipts for the UK gov't, their getting access to the data is not costing more. so it should not make a difference to the expenses/revenues balance -the data in question will be almost exclusively data about Britain (maps, health data, enviro data etc) ... so while other countries *may* use this data, it's real utility is in Britain, so that's where one is likely to see the most innovation. -and you *could* add reasonable restrictions to your licensing: free for UK residents, cost for others. you might be right, but a few comments:

-there is no (significant) marginal cost, ie. giving away ten data sets is more or less equivalent to giving away 100 … so while foreigners might not produce tex receipts for the UK gov’t, their getting access to the data is not costing more. so it should not make a difference to the expenses/revenues balance

-the data in question will be almost exclusively data about Britain (maps, health data, enviro data etc) … so while other countries *may* use this data, it’s real utility is in Britain, so that’s where one is likely to see the most innovation.

-and you *could* add reasonable restrictions to your licensing: free for UK residents, cost for others.

]]> By: Christopher Hughes http://hughmcguire.net/2007/10/09/can-the-government-just-give-it-away/comment-page-1/#comment-1478 Christopher Hughes Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:33:41 +0000 http://hughmcguire.net/2007/10/09/can-the-government-just-give-it-away/#comment-1478 Great post. One tiny quibble - freeing the data to taxpayers, whose increased freedom raises more tax is one thing. But you would also be gifting an advantage to other countries (presuming the data would be free without restrictions), who would contribute no tax, and who might not do the favour in return. Repeat - quibble. Great post. Great post. One tiny quibble – freeing the data to taxpayers, whose increased freedom raises more tax is one thing. But you would also be gifting an advantage to other countries (presuming the data would be free without restrictions), who would contribute no tax, and who might not do the favour in return.
Repeat – quibble. Great post.

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