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<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Rationale for the Open Information Definition">
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<FONT COLOR="#ff0000"><H1 ALIGN="CENTER">Rationale for the Open Information Definition</H1>
</FONT><P>The intent of the Open Information Definition is to write down a concrete set of criteria that we believe capture the essence of what the information community wants ''Open Information'' to mean -- criteria that ensure that items distributed under an open-information license will be available for independent peer review and continuous evolutionary improvement and selection, reaching levels of authority and reliability no closed product can attain.</P>
<P>For the evolutionary process to work, we have to counter short-term incentives for people to stop contributing to the information gene pool. This means the license terms must prevent people from locking up information where very few people can see or modify it.</P>
<P>When information providers distribute their information under OII approved licenses, they can apply the "OII Certified" mark to that information. This certification mark informs users of that information that the license complies with the intent of the Open Information Definition.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause1">1. Free Redistribution</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause1"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>By constraining the license to require free redistribution, we eliminate the temptation to throw away many long-term gains in order to make a little short-term sales money. If we didn't do this, there would be lots of pressure for cooperators to defect. </P>
<H2><A NAME="clause2">2. Readable Source </A>Format <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause2"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>We require access to un-obfuscated source format because you can't evolve information without modifying it. Since our purpose is to make evolution easy, we require that modification be made easy.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause3">3. Derived Works</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause3"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>The mere ability to read information isn't enough to support independent peer review and rapid evolutionary selection. For rapid evolution to happen, people need to be able to experiment with and redistribute modifications.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause4">4. Integrity of The Author's Information</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause4"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>Encouraging lots of improvement is a good thing, but users have a right to know who is responsible for the information they are using. Authors and maintainers have reciprocal right to know what they're being asked to support and protect their reputations.</P>
<P>Accordingly, an open-information license <EM>must</EM> guarantee that information be readily available, but <EM>may</EM> require that it be distributed as pristine base information plus "updates/deviations (?)". In this way, "unofficial" changes can be made available but readily distinguished from the base information. </P>
<H2><A NAME="clause5">5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups.</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause5"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>In order to get the maximum benefit from the process, the maximum diversity of persons and groups should be equally eligible to contribute to open information. Therefore we forbid any open-information license from locking anybody out of the process.</P>
<P>An OID-conformant license may warn licensees of applicable restrictions and remind them that they are obliged to obey the law; however, it may not incorporate such restrictions itself.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause6">6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor.</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause6"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>The major intention of this clause is to prohibit license traps that prevent open information from being used commercially. We want commercial users to join our community, not feel excluded from it.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause7">7. Distribution of License.</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause7"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>This clause is intended to forbid closing up information by indirect means such as requiring a non-disclosure agreement.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause8">8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product.</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause8"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>This clause forecloses yet another class of license traps.</P>
<H2><A NAME="clause9">9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software.</A> <A HREF="OpenInfoDefinition.html#clause9"><FONT SIZE=2>(back)</FONT></A></H2>
<P>Distributors of open information have the right to make their own choices about their own distributions.</TD>
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