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The data has obviously been filtered and wrangled (e.g. it includes only complaints to officers with at least one substantiated complaint). What's offered for d

by danso 6y ago

The data has obviously been filtered and wrangled (e.g. it includes only complaints to officers with at least one substantiated complaint). What's offered for download is a single CSV, it may have been derived from multiple tables, and several fields may have been cleaned/normalized to the point where the data is substantially different than the raw records.

Teever 6y ago
I was under the impression that you couldn't copyright tables of data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....
- jrockway 6y ago
  Terms of Service and copyright are two different things. Maybe the data's not copyrightable, but they can make their website terms of service say "by using our website and downloading this data, you agree to..." You would have to research the case law to see if courts will enforce this. Anyone can say anything they want.
- lmkg 6y ago
  You cannot copyright facts, but you can copyright arrangements of facts, as long as the arrangement has a modicum of creativity. The litmus test for this is literally the telephone book. The White Pages cannot be copyrighted (the court case you linked). But, the Yellow Pages can be copyrighted. The White Pages are nothing more than an alphabetic listing of phone numbers, but the Yellow Pages groups phone numbers by business type. This involves some editorial discretion, which involves a bare minimum of thinking, and therefore qualifies as a creative work.
justinclift 6y ago
As a general data point (pun intended ;>), there is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right No idea if that's even applicable in this instance though, as this is "Terms on a website" (my wording) - which would probably be a contractual obligation.
- int_19h 6y ago
  As the article notes, it's not recognized in US, and there has been a court case about that.

by danso 6y ago

Teever 6y ago

I was under the impression that you couldn't copyright tables of data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....

jrockway 6y ago
Terms of Service and copyright are two different things. Maybe the data's not copyrightable, but they can make their website terms of service say "by using our website and downloading this data, you agree to..." You would have to research the case law to see if courts will enforce this. Anyone can say anything they want.
lmkg 6y ago
You cannot copyright facts, but you can copyright arrangements of facts, as long as the arrangement has a modicum of creativity. The litmus test for this is literally the telephone book. The White Pages cannot be copyrighted (the court case you linked). But, the Yellow Pages can be copyrighted. The White Pages are nothing more than an alphabetic listing of phone numbers, but the Yellow Pages groups phone numbers by business type. This involves some editorial discretion, which involves a bare minimum of thinking, and therefore qualifies as a creative work.

justinclift 6y ago

As a general data point (pun intended ;>), there is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right No idea if that's even applicable in this instance though, as this is "Terms on a website" (my wording) - which would probably be a contractual obligation.

int_19h 6y ago
As the article notes, it's not recognized in US, and there has been a court case about that.