It’s certainly been an eventful week.
Since we had to close, we’ve had numerous emails of support, several very detailed behind-the-scenes stories about how all this stuff works inside the Royal Mail, stories on websites far and wide, an article in the Guardian’s Technology Supplement… we even got an email from a relative of Mr Marples himself, asking if there was anything he could do to help. It’s been quite amazing.
I’m writing now to say that things have picked up a bit, and there’s stuff that everyone can do to help! Tom Watson MP has tabled an early day motion asking the Royal Mail to create a new licence for not-for-profits to use postcode data for free. This would allow sites like PlanningAlerts.com and JobcentreProPlus.com to function without having to rely on unreliable sources for postcode data.
So, please — write to your MP and ask them to sign the early day motion (EDM2000). Tell them the story, explain why you think it’s important, and ask them to add their name. Use your own words if you can. If lack of postcode data has affected you personally in some way (perhaps there’s a site you wanted to make that you couldn’t) mention that too. If you haven’t already, you could also sign the petition at Number 10.
Finally — and importantly — please also, blog, tweet, and tell your friends that you’ve done these things. We need everyone who cares about this to know that it’s going on!
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5 Comments
I’ve just written a blog post requesting people to sign the petition and write to their MP (and of course I’ve done those things myself). I hope you get this all sorted, and I hope the Guardian are doing what they can to help too, since this is moving towards their final goal.
I’ll go one better – here is a web site my company has developed which allows a user to use a GOOGLE MAP (public domain) to enter their own postcode (which they already know) to get an approximate map. They can then drag the pin around until it’s on THEIR property and the site will provide links to the major online mapping services.
I’m taking this one step further in support of your campaign – a data dump of the postcodes and the latitudes and longitudes COLLECTED BY OUR USERS is available for free to anyone who wants it.
If my hunch is correct then I think that this approach gives Royal Mail a kicking since the data is not derived from their PAF file but is submitted by users using a public resource. I’ll put the full weight of my company being supporting this and if they want to sue me as well then I’ll see them in court.
Good luck – we can make a difference if we fight this hard enough.
Nick Bird. Managing Director. Ladybird Internet Ltd
Eeek — Google maps are absolutely not public domain. Google use lots of OS data so the derived data licence still taints everything. You should switch to an OpenStreetMap map asap!
An earlier petition to No.10 resulted in a brush-off to Postcomm. The person to complain to at Postcomm is Philip Groves. His email is firstname.lastname@psc.gov.uk
The key paragraphs in No.10’s response are:
It would be very time-consuming and costly for anyone to try to replicate the list, so Royal Mail licenses PAF data, for a fee, allowing others to use it. Under Section 116 of the Postal Services Act 2000, Royal Mail must maintain the PAF and make it available to any person who wishes to use it on “such terms as are reasonable”. This requirement is replicated as a condition of Royal Mail’s licence.
Provision exists for Royal Mail to recover a reasonable charge for the supply of PAF. However it must not impose any term or condition other than reasonable restrictions to safeguard its intellectual property rights (IPR), and to ensure that the PAF and its updates are used to support effective addressing.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20993
It is my assertion that a fee of £3,750 is not reasonable and that Postcomm should require RM to offer the data at a price that reflects the cost of supplying the data and not the market cost nor to reflect the cost of acquiring the data.
I recently received a reply from my local MP, David Burrowes (Con) who unfortunately felt unable to support the EDM. You can view my thoughts and his response on my blog:
http://lukeredpath.co.uk/blog/postcodes-for-the-public-good-not-for-profit.html
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Harry Metcalfe, Dafydd Vaughan and Planbot. Planbot said: MP @tom_watson has tabled an early day motion for MPs to sign re: postcodes. Please ask your MP to sign it http://is.gd/4gZNx [...]
[...] I wrote to my MP, urging him to sign EDM 2000 (RE Ernest Marples / postcodes). http://ernestmarples.com/blog/2009/10/write-to-your-mp/ [...]
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