Copyright Issues

Please review the fair use principles.  Efiia, for example, is pulling our materials directly and in whole.  I have been told that the way they are doing is a legal draft of the material, but we have not dug in to understand fully the principles upon which they are doing this.  

Many sites may also be operating under the principle that information and knowledge must be free.  The Obama Administration, for example -- in contrast to the Bush Administration -- has adopted an Open Gov, Open Data movement.  It has opened huge amounts of government data; especially of importance is the community health data.  However, a large portion of the internet and World Wide Web is probably operating in a grey zone or in a manner that is illegal, if anyone would want to pursue it. Some of the materials posted on the internet are overtly abusive of property rights and propriety, and even under these conditions, they seem to operate with impunity, because the enforcement mechanisms because of the scale of the problem and the lack of viable enforcement.  

GHI does not want to be using information that is illegal.  As we start opening up our sites from their alpha status, including the use of web 2.0 social networks for broader distribution, even when in alpha, we want to make sure we are using open data, open information, open knowledge, be using fair use principles, or be obtaining permission for reuse of materials.

Unless classified or marked sensitive, it is my understanding that all publicly available U.S. government information including data, pictures, graphs ... can be reused unless otherwise marked. In addition, my understanding is that there are sites devoted to making available open information, open data, and open knowledge, which the core elements of the Resilience Systems and MPHISE are committed to.  The idea is to have open, scientifically-based, evidence-based information and to allow it to be shared freely so that Resilience Systems can be able to stand up quickly anywhere in the world, repurposing any of the data, information, and knowledge in the open areas of the Resilience Systems (excluding, for example, information in private working groups).  

I believe that Joyce Fedeczko and Tim Siftar would have clear evidence and references on these issues.