Response to GBIF request for consultation on data licenses

As a data aggregator, the goal of GBIF should be to find policies that benefit both its data providers and data reusers. Clearly, a GBIF that has no or few data will have little value, but so will a GBIF full of data that is encumbered with restrictions to an extent that stifles reuse. Our response follows from the proposition that promoting data reuse should be a shared interest of all the parties: data providers, data users, and GBIF itself. We feel the consultation document missed the opportunity to recognize this shared interest, and that furthering the goal of data reuse should in fact be a primary yardstick by which different licensing options are measured.

In short, our recommendations are (1) that all data in GBIF be released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0), which is a public domain dedication that waives copyright rather than asserting it; (2) GBIF should set clear expectations in the form of community norms for how the data that it serves is to be referenced when reused, and (3) GBIF should work with partner organizations in promoting standards and technologies that enable the effective tracking of data reuse.