Comments on: Data, Mashups and API’s http://justblogging.co.uk/2009/08/data-mashups-and-api%e2%80%99s/ "Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise" (Yeats) Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:48:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark Steadman http://justblogging.co.uk/2009/08/data-mashups-and-api%e2%80%99s/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Mark Steadman Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:58:31 +0000 http://justblogging.co.uk/?p=120#comment-19 Hear hear sir. It's about making _our_ information available to us. Postcode data's one of the biggest: just because a company delivers to a list of UK addresses, does not give them the monopoly on that database. They need that data anyway, so charging other companies to use it should, to my mind be illegal as they're a public body. I feel similar about the Beeb. There's no part of the Beeb's output which should not be open source, as we pay for its development. This doesn't mean we get to decide what programmes they make and want they don't, but we should benefit from the fruits of their labour. (iPlayer API anyone?) Hear hear sir. It’s about making _our_ information available to us. Postcode data’s one of the biggest: just because a company delivers to a list of UK addresses, does not give them the monopoly on that database. They need that data anyway, so charging other companies to use it should, to my mind be illegal as they’re a public body.

I feel similar about the Beeb. There’s no part of the Beeb’s output which should not be open source, as we pay for its development. This doesn’t mean we get to decide what programmes they make and want they don’t, but we should benefit from the fruits of their labour. (iPlayer API anyone?)

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