Yildirim, Van Houweling, Lazarova, and Vezina on Freedom to Share: How Government’s Data Sharing Policies Concerning Publicly Available Data Impact Academic Research and Journalism in the Public Interest @eozgeyildirim @mollysvh @Brigitte_Vezina @creative

Emine Ozge Yildirim, KU Leuven, Centre for IT & IP Law, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Ana Lazarova, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, and Brigitte Vezina, Creative Commons, have published Freedom to Share: How Government’s Data Sharing Policies Concerning Publicly Available Data Impact Academic Research and Journalism in the Public Interest. Here is the abstract.

Our societies rely on quality academic and scientific research and journalism to thrive and prosper. A necessary condition for public-interest research and journalism is access to data unencumbered by unnecessary legal barriers. Commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the tragic death of data access activist and digital rights champion Aaron Swartz, this article examines the policy and legal landscapes in the European Union and in the United States regarding access to data. It offers recommendations to strike a necessary balance between data protection and copyright, on the one hand, and research and journalism freedoms on the other, as a means to support better sharing of data in the public interest.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.