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OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

theguardian.com

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Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#11

Post by docdeek »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #10

> The move may still not happen if the foundation can’t find a suitable country to relocate to. Ireland is out, because of a requirement for directors to be residents; France too, because of the difficulty in guaranteeing English-language services. So moving to the EU solves some problems but adds more?

The idea that the Foundation wouldn’t be able to find English language services in France is a bit of a stretch. I’ve been working in tech here in France for a while now and whether in startups, tech companies, or independently, I’ve never had any trouble conducting business almost entirely in English if I (as the customer) preferred to.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#12

Post by jozvolskyef »

docdeek wrote: post #11
CodeGlitch wrote: post #10

> The move may still not happen if the foundation can’t find a suitable country to relocate to. Ireland is out, because of a requirement for directors to be residents; France too, because of the difficulty in guaranteeing English-language services. So moving to the EU solves some problems but adds more?

The idea that the Foundation wouldn’t be able to find English language services in France is a bit of a stretch. I’ve been working in tech here in France for a while now and whether in startups, tech companies, or independently, I’ve never had any trouble conducting business almost entirely in English if I (as the customer) preferred to.

English isn't an official language in France. That probably isn't an issue for large companies, but it is a non-starter for small companies.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#13

Post by tobltobs »

docdeek wrote: post #11
CodeGlitch wrote: post #10

> The move may still not happen if the foundation can’t find a suitable country to relocate to. Ireland is out, because of a requirement for directors to be residents; France too, because of the difficulty in guaranteeing English-language services. So moving to the EU solves some problems but adds more?

The idea that the Foundation wouldn’t be able to find English language services in France is a bit of a stretch. I’ve been working in tech here in France for a while now and whether in startups, tech companies, or independently, I’ve never had any trouble conducting business almost entirely in English if I (as the customer) preferred to.

I had a small tech business in Southern France and without the help of a native french speaker it would have been impossible to navigate the Kafkaesque french bureaucracy.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#14

Post by kmlx »

mrtksn wrote: post #6

Oh this is about the "Database Rights". In essence, EU, UK and the USA has different opinion on the ownership status and rights of databases. EU: Databases are similar to other copyrightable works, thus you can't simply copy someones database. UK: Like EU but with different flavour. USA: There's no such things as database rights. Apparently, although the positions of UK and EU are similar, since UK is no longer in th…

another fun fact: only the UK, EU and Russia have "database rights". No other country has anything similar. And I'm guessing a good reason why no one else has this has to do with free use and research. Basically, in the EU, UK and Russia I can't even reconstruct your database piece by piece.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#15

Post by streamofdigits »

> The increased importance of the EU in matters of tech regulation also played a role

check the node density of OSM [0]. notice a pattern?

on a forward looking basis pre-empting any regulatory risk would seem quite a weighty factor. being located in the jurisdiction that reflects the majority of their user base is not a silver bullet but probably shields them from diverging UK/EU rules

[0] https://tyrasd.github.io/osm-node-density/#2/43.8/26.4/lates...

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#16

Post by gubby »

kmlx wrote: post #14
mrtksn wrote: post #6

Oh this is about the "Database Rights". In essence, EU, UK and the USA has different opinion on the ownership status and rights of databases. EU: Databases are similar to other copyrightable works, thus you can't simply copy someones database. UK: Like EU but with different flavour. USA: There's no such things as database rights. Apparently, although the positions of UK and EU are similar, since UK is no longer in th…

another fun fact: only the UK, EU and Russia have "database rights". No other country has anything similar. And I'm guessing a good reason why no one else has this has to do with free use and research. Basically, in the EU, UK and Russia I can't even reconstruct your database piece by piece.

> Basically, in the EU, UK and Russia I can't even reconstruct your database piece by piece.

You are entitled to create a similar database based on your own efforts or research. So, you could walk the streets of London with an iPad to make your own KmlxStreetMap. You just can't directly copy or transfer rows from someone else's.

This seems like a good page: https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/database-rights...

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#17

Post by matthewmorgan »

skywal_l wrote: post #4

It's not really clear to me what the problem is. Doesn't the Open Database License applies everywhere, brexit or not? I never thought that where an "open source" project is physically located as any impact on the license it uses.

I don't understand the problem either. If they're worried someone in the EU is going to clone their database, moving there just means someone in the UK can now do it. And Americans have apparently been free to do it from the start.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#18

Post by seszett »

jozvolskyef wrote: post #12
docdeek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that the Foundation wouldn’t be able to find English language services in France is a bit of a stretch. I’ve been working in tech here in France for a while now and whether in startups, tech companies, or independently, I’ve never had any trouble conducting business almost entirely in English if I (as the customer) preferred to.

English isn't an official language in France. That probably isn't an issue for large companies, but it is a non-starter for small companies.

English is an official language in the EU only in Ireland and Malta though, so if Ireland is out and English is a requirement, it shouldn't be difficult to decide which country to move to.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#19

Post by VBprogrammer »

I can't imagine this is much more than a set of paper work exercises. It would have no meaningful effect on anyone who uses or works for OpenStreetMap, other than perhaps if someone had a dastardly plan to copy their database and sell it for their own purposes.

Re: OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

#20

Post by jeltz »

seszett wrote: post #18
jozvolskyef wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English isn't an official language in France. That probably isn't an issue for large companies, but it is a non-starter for small companies.

English is an official language in the EU only in Ireland and Malta though, so if Ireland is out and English is a requirement, it shouldn't be difficult to decide which country to move to.

As someone who has done business on Malta I would not recommend it. Even opening a bank account is a pain on that island. I wouls not want to operate a nob-profit there.
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