Perhaps you've noticed the Free Our Data campaign that's been running in the Technology section since March. And now, here's a key date: November 21, when the European Parliament will decide whether to pass the Inspire directive, which mandates that government agencies should make their data available for free to each other.
That's got the Ordnance Survey rather upset.
In this Times interview, Vanessa Lawrence, its chief executive, sounds off on it:
"We cost £100 million a year to run," she says. "We don't make massive profits but we make enough to cover our costs, pay the Government a 5.5 per cent dividend and to invest in what our customers want. If we move to free data then it would be taxpayers' money which is used to pay for our work, and I believe that our taxes should not be used for things that can be sustained in other ways. I feel strongly that we should be able to continue the job we do in the way we do it."
Well, yes, it would be taxpayers' money paying for it. Unlike now, when taxpayers' money pays for (near as dammit) half of it (because half of the OS's revenues come from sales to local government and other government organisations), and private companies pay for the other half, and who knows what might be generated by private companies - a la Google Maps - if we could all get our hands on the data for free?
A group I've never heard of called the Taxpayers' Alliance - TPA - (though its chief executive used to be an advisor to very-right MP Bill Cash) has posted on its neo-blog (since you can't comment to correct their errors of fact) a grumpy complaint that could have been channeled from the mind of Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail. Though we have to say it's neatly rebutted by Heather Brooke on the Your Right To Know blog:
TPA claim that public and private organisations are "happy to pay", but what of the budding businesses and good ideas that never even got off the ground because they couldn't afford the [Ordnance Survey] fees? There's a thriving, tax-paying mapping industry built on the back of the geospatial data provided for free by the US Government. The mapping industry in Europe is comparatively moribund.
At the same time, we agree also with Heather's other point: we don't want to see OS privatised. It performs a useful, nay, vital function; in the private sector it couldn't perform as well. What's needed is an OS which delights in getting the best data possible for everyone, and making it available for everyone who has paid for it - which would be all of us, through our taxes.
Meanwhile, let's keep watch on November 21.
