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On 21 January 2010, the UK Government, led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt, launched the beta version of data.gov.uk. The portal provides a single access point to over 2,500 central government datasets that have been made available for free re-use.
In accordance with the UK Government’s commitment in Putting the Frontline First: smarter government to “establish a common licence to re-use data which is interoperable with the internationally recognised Creative Commons model”, all content on the site is now compatible with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. The website’s terms and conditions state that:
We have aligned these terms so that they are interoperable with any Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence. This means that you may mix the information with other Creative Commons licensed content to create a derivative work that can be distributed under any Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence.
At the launch, Shadbolt stressed the significance of the new licensing terms. While data may have been available before, it could not be easily reused or was only available under restrictive licences. According to the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), the new licensing model, which replaces the previous Click-Use Licence regime, is “the first major step towards the adoption of a non-transactional, Creative Commons style approach to licensing the re-use of government information”.
The National Archives has reported that it will continue to work with teams from Creative Commons on the new approach, to develop a new licensing model that will make public sector information even more accessible. Updates on their efforts towards better open access are available on OPSI’s Perspectives blog.