An Example Of Free Data Creating A Booming Industry
from the how-free-benefits dept
It's certainly not a new idea to point out that making certain things free can have tremendous benefits in both business and society, but it's always good to have another example. Copyfight points to an interesting Financial Times article from James Boyle comparing weather data in the US and the EU. In the US, weather data is available for the "cost of reproduction." Having that data (which is, now, a commodity) lets plenty of people, companies and researchers build more value on top of that data -- which is exactly what's happened. In contrast, over in Europe, weather data is protected by copyright -- which, you'll recall is only there because we're told it helps create the right business models to build businesses. Except, that's not what happened. The US has used that weather data to build a thriving private industry which simply doesn't exist in Europe -- because all that data is so expensive. In fact, a study shows that while the EU invests 9.5 billion euros in weather data to get a return of 68 billion euros, the US invests 19 billion euros and gets a return of 750 billion euros (they're not spending euros, of course, but since it's the Financial Times, that's what they're using to compare apples to apples). That means, the US is getting much more value, and building a much bigger industry, even with "free" data. It's more evidence to show to those who insist that there is no way "free" can help business grow. When people recognize that free, commoditized products become inputs, rather than the final output of a product, suddenly the economic scenarios look much brighter for "free" things. However, we still have people insisting that once things become free or commoditized there's no way to make money.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
You have to wonder. . .
I also see this bizarre view on the part of Euro governments with their government docs. For the most part, any reports, etc. that the U.S. government produces are automatically in the public domain. In the UK, however, they are almost always copyrighted.
Makes absolutely no sense for routine government documents to be copyrighted.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
output must be protected though
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: output must be protected though
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: output must be protected though
"Keeping it free" is a mantra but it carries with it a lot of ideological baggage that may in fact reduce the overall benefits that the model is purported to create.
[ link to this | view in thread ]