Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples of Wallasey, is very sad because the Public Data Corporation wants to lock public data away behind fees.
What's this all about eh?
Last year, the Public Data Corporation was announced. It was a dirty little compromise between people who think public data should be free and some other people who are wrong.
They couldn't agree on what to do about Ordnance Survey, the Met Office and the Land Registry, so they announced the formation of the PDC and said that would sort it out.
The first consultation about how the PDC should release data has happened, and it was quite bad. The options it presented are weak and if implemented would result in paying for public data. The sensible solutions were variously excluded and missing.
It's pretty clear that this process has been completely captured by established interests, fighting to keep the status quo. None of the options suggested in the consultation were to our benefit, and one would be a significant step backwards.
Thanks to many wonderful people, nearly 300 responses were sent to the consultation via ErnestMarples.com. This is a stunning result! Hopefully the views of all those right-thinking people will have some impact on the process from here on in.
More things will have to happen now to help nudge things in the right direction. As soon as we have any more information -- or if there's any way you can help -- we'll tweet about it. So if you want to stay in touch, head over to Twitter and
If you like, you can visit the archived version of the PDC Consultation response page.
Ernest who?
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He's the Postmaster General who introduced the Postcode, and he's very sad to see how badly the usefulness of his invention has been hampered.