Yale ISP Ideas Lunch

What is Spatial Law and Why is it Important?

Kevin D. PomfretCentre for Spatial Law and Policy

September 18, 2014

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Geospatial TechnologyNow Is Pervasive

Resulting In Rapid Growth in Many Diverse Uses of Geoinformation

Social Media◦ Geotagged photos, tweets,

Smart phone apps Business Intelligence

◦ Big Data Open Data Law Enforcement Smart Grid Tracking (assets, loved ones)

Sustainable Development Infectious Disease Disaster Response Climate Change Protecting Endangered

Species Smart Cities Insurance Intelligent Transportation

Systems

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◦And Creating A NewGeospatial Community

Universities, Citizens, NGOs

Industry Government

Geospatial Community

Data Provider

Data User

Data UserData Provider

Data Provider

Data User

Geospatial Community:New Paradigm

An international ecosystem that collects/uses/stores/distributes geoinformation.◦ Cuts across technology platforms, industry groups and user

communities. Products and services increasingly being developed based

upon aggregation all types of data collected from diverse sources.

Innovation is being done by all stakeholders in the community

As a result policies/laws that impact the collection, impact, and distribution of geoinformation (Spatial Law) in one segment will impact others.◦ Traditional stovepipe approaches are

obsolete/detrimental

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Spatial Law The legal and policy issues impact the

collection/use/storage/distribution of geoinformation PrivacyIntellectual PropertyLicensingNational SecurityOpen DataLiability

Unfortunately policy/legal communities don’t understand geospatial technology, geoinformation, and/or the geospatial community

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St Peter’s Square - 2005

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Perceptions of Privacy are Changing

Luca Bruno/AP

St Peter’s Square 2013

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Creating a Location Privacy Paradox

Michael Sohn/AP

Location is different than other types of personal data we try to protect◦Harder to define◦More powerful◦Collected in so many ways

Harder to satisfy Fair Information Practice Principles

◦Much more versatile Can be used in a variety of other applications

Location Privacy

Why Issues Spatial Law is Important?

Products and Services are increasingly based upon geospatial data from a variety of sources◦ Impact on data sharing agreements/licenses

Lack of clarity is impacting adoption of new technologies

Lack of understanding of geospatial technology by policy/legal communities could lead to bad laws/policies.

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Products and Services are increasingly based upon geospatial data from a

variety of sources

Geospatial Products and Services are increasingly be developed using data from a variety of sources• Government• Industry• Crowd

Each are subject to their own licenses/data sharing agreements with varying terms/restrictions

1. Rights in Intellectual Property 2. Use rights 3. Allocation of risks

◦ Representations and Warranties; Covenants, Indemnification

◦ Data quality, compliance with laws, injuries to third parties

Impact of Spatial Law On Data Licenses

Facts not copyrightable.

“ A compilation of facts, however may be copyrightable if the author made choices as to ‘which facts to include, in what order to place them and how to arrange the collected data so that they may be used effectively by readers’”

Mason v. Montgomery, quoting Feist Court

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Intellectual Property Rights:Copyright

Grants Copyright Holder Exclusive Right to:

- Reproduce- Create Derivative Works- Distribute- Perform- Display

How do these apply to today’s geospatial data products and services?

:

1. Rights in Intellectual Property 2. Use rights 3. Allocation of risks

◦ Representations and Warranties; Covenants, Indemnification

◦ Data quality, compliance with laws, injuries to third parties

Impact of Spatial Law On Data Licenses

ODbL includes “share-alike” requirement for derivative products

Term is not clearly defined, particularly for geospatial data Centre for Spatial Law and Policy conducted a series of

interviews on impact of ODbL on use of OSM data A number organizations (government, industry, research,

NGOs) said could not use: Reasons include:

◦ Privacy◦ Proprietary information◦ Federal law◦ Other license agreements non-compatible

Lack of governance makes it more difficult

Open Database License (ODbL) and OpenStreetMap data

1. Rights in Intellectual Property 2. Use rights 3. Allocation of risks

◦ Representations and Warranties; Covenants, Indemnification

◦ Data quality, compliance with laws, injuries to third parties

Impact of Spatial Law On Data Licenses

Who is Responsible When Someone/Something is Injured?

As data is used in more real time critical decision making by non-sophisticated users the risk of mistakes increases.

Do you want judges, lawyers and juries to decide liability?

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Pomfret’s Theory of Data Aggregation

X = (A*B)C2

Where: X= complexity of aggregationA = number of data setsB = number of different legal systems

involvedC = number of parties removed from original data source

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Licensing/Data Sharing

Why Issues Spatial Law is Important?

Products and Services are increasingly based upon geospatial data from a variety of sources◦ Impact on data sharing agreements/licenses

Lack of clarity is impacting adoption of new technologies that collect/use geoinformation

Lack of understanding of geospatial technology by policy/legal communities could lead to bad laws/policies.

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Spatial law cuts across technology platforms Outdated laws and policies are slowing adoption

of technologies that collect/use location and other types of geoinformation◦ UAVs◦ Commercial Satellites◦ Uber◦ Airbnb◦ Smart grid◦ Autonomous Vehicles

Impact of resulting laws and policies likely to be much broader than intended

Concerns are Impacting Adoption of New Technologies

Unmanned Aerial VehiclesTremendous value for geospatial community

Number of legal concerns - Accidents - Privacy

Number of countries relooking at laws and policies

Remote Sensing Satellites

- Countries are beginning to reduce resolution for commercial imaging satellites

- Constellations of smallSats being deployed with high quality imagery/diverse sensors

- People beginning to raise privacy concerns

Other Technologies and Applications

Laws/policies being developed regarding numerous technologies and applications - Uber- Crowdsourcing- Autonomous

Vehicles- Wearable

Technology- Internet of Things- Smart Grids

All have one thing in common: geoinformation

Why Issues Spatial Law is Important?

Products and Services are increasingly based upon geospatial data from a variety of sources◦ Impact on data sharing agreements/licenses

Lack of clarity is impacting adoption of new technologies that collect/use geoinformation

Lack of understanding of geospatial technology by policy/legal communities could lead to bad laws/policies.

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Proposed Convention on Geoinformation

Like a Treaty

Being Pushed by International Bar Association

Filling the Current Legal/Policy Void

IBA is doing what lawyers often do – fix with laws and regulations

Covers all types of geoinformation Calls for each entity who processes

geoinformation to create a Custody Record:◦ Details of each transfer◦ Each stage of processing◦ Notes on models and standards used or interface

requirements observed◦ All person who had custody - Including government

agencies other than geoinformation “generated” exclusively for “national security purposes.

Summary of Key Provisions

Processing Obligations of Controllers (Art V)◦ Obligation to notify state if it have geoinformation can

be used to avert harm or avert natural or man-made.◦ Make all geoinformation available to sensed state on

fair and reasonable terms Individuals have enforceable rights to require

de-identification Consultative Committee assess and consider

new standards Recognition of Geoinformation Rights (Art. VII)

◦ Parties that all reasonable efforts to ensure that copyright and database rights are protected

Other Key Terms

Legal and policy issues associated with the collection/use/storage/distribution of geoinformation are becoming increasingly important

The lack of a legal/policy framework will impact the adoption of a number of innovative technologies that collect/use geoinformation

Unless (or until) legal/policies communities catch up, risk of bad laws/policies or unintended consequences

Conclusions

Kevin D. Pomfret 804-928-5870

kevin@spatiallaw.com @kpomfret

Spatial Law and Policy Blog http://spatiallaw.com/

http://www.geolawpc.com/

Questions