E-business in spatial data: Policy and legal issues

George CHO

Research output: Contribution to conference (non-published works)Abstract

Abstract

With the advent of the internet more and more ‘business’ is being conducted on-line and electronically. This presentation addresses the vexed questions of how to manage the delivery of data on-line as well as controlling the distribution and value-adding to the data. These questions raise policy and legal issues. For example, the delivery of data on-line brings about the question of liability where the data become corrupted and error-ridden. To what extent are data providers liable for the error; that is, how far down the chain does one sheet home liability where the data error has caused loss and damage in third parties. What is the nature of the contract between the buyer and the seller? Does the seller has a statutory right to sell the data? This question is one where there is a migration of
public data into the private arena and raises other policy issues: are private purchasers paying for data that has already been paid for through the tax system? What policies are best for small markets – cost recovery, cost of media only, custodianships, gratis? Do we wish an ‘open records’ policy such as in the United States in order to reduce risk of litigation? Data broking and data warehousing provide good conceptual paradigms for centralising spatial data so that they become readily available when required. However, this may raise the metadata issue of how best to describe the data and will such descriptions help facilitate the e-business? Other legal issues include those of privacy, security as well as ownership such as in intellectual property. This discussion will draw upon experiences in Australasia as well as from the UK, Europe and the US.
Original languageEnglish
Pages73
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2008

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