To make it clear that all data contributed to and made available via data.gov is free for unrestricted use worldwide, data.gov's submission/acquisition policy should require that contributed data be made available under terms of CC0, a universal waiver of copyright and database rights created by Creative Commons. CC0 ensures that data remains in the public domain, where maximum re-use is enabled.
This would be similar to http://www.whitehouse.gov/copyright/ which stipulates that third party contributions must be made under the CC Attribution license, while federal government content is in the public domain -- though going further, recognizing that all data, including that contributed by third parties, should be in the public domain, license-free.
Note that factual data is not protected by copyright in the US, nor are works created by federal government employees. However, data.gov aggregates datasets that may be protectable under other copyright laws or that are developed by non governmental, third parties. Use of CC0 by data.gov is needed if the data is to be openly published for maximum effect and with the greatest clarity possible.
Note also that CC0 is not a license. For a more detailed look at why open government data must be license-free, see the Open Government Data Principles at http://resource.org/8_principles.html, also an idea on this site, http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2564-4049
Comments (1)
Would the effect of this be to limit what would be contributed, or is the implication of data.gov only to provide unrestricted data in the first place?