192.com's founder raps 'pure greed' of data re-use system

Company's decade-long battle to win access to information emphasises need for change
Alastair Crawford of 192.com

Need to check that your childminder lives where they say they do? Loan them 10p: as a money lender, you're now allowed to check an individual's electoral register entry electronically - a privilege not available if they're merely in charge of your children. Alastair Crawford cites the example as an anomaly thrown up by attempts to control the re-use of official data.

He has encountered many more. Over the past 10 years, his startup business has created 192.com, described as "the de facto standard search engine for finding people, business and places across the UK" by acquiring access to databases from phone numbers to postcodes to maps. Generally, it involves a fight.

Right to re-use data

It began with phone numbers. The first 192 product, in 1997, was a national electronic phone book derived from BT data. Crawford claimed the right to re-use phone numbers on two grounds. First, he was acting with consent - subscribers agreed that their numbers be published. Second, isn't it in BT's interest that phone numbers be disseminated as widely as possible? After two years of skirmishing, 192 agreed to pay BT for the data, a setup Crawford describes as "bizarre".

The idea that giving information away can increase its value is uncomfortable for many businesses, even state-owned ones. Another 192.com battle was over access to postcodes, produced and owned by Royal Mail but widely used elsewhere to verify addresses. In a lawsuit that went to the High Court, Royal Mail sought royalties from 192.

"It was a wipeout claim," Crawford says. "They were asking £150 for every CD Rom we had ever produced, and we were only selling them for £34. They were really intent on destroying the company."

As with BT, 192 argued that its use of postcodes was legal, because the product involved work by third parties who were licensed. In February 2004, the High Court agreed. The judge was apparently impressed by being asked for his postcode when visiting a museum just before the trial. "It was a very important landmark victory," says Crawford. "If Royal Mail had achieved what it wanted, it would have been able to claim rights to every consumer database in the country."

As with BT, Crawford argues that Royal Mail benefits from postcodes being widely available. "It saves them a huge amount of money. The only value it has is because everyone uses it." Attempting to make money from the system is "pure greed". After the court case, Crawford says, Royal Mail "apologised for what had happened". Relationships between the two organisations are now amicable, he says.

Likewise, he describes as "fine" his relationship with Ordnance Survey (OS) - which, like Royal Mail, has come to the attention of Guardian Technology's Free Our Data campaign. Several of 192's products, including a journey planner launched last year, rely on data from Ordnance Survey's digital MasterMap. "OS are very commercial and we find them to be fairly flexible," he says.

That does not mean he agrees with OS's business model, which requires it to turn a profit. He claims the current state of affairs puts UK-based commercial mapping companies at a disadvantage with global players such as Google - while Google licenses OS data, it can spread the cost across markets where core geographical data is free.

"Google can take a view of the costs, because the UK is just one country to them. But for us, the UK is the only place we work. How can we compete?"

The most controversial aspect of the 192.com product range involves data from the electoral register. The Guardian's campaign has always argued that data identifying private individuals should not be part of the "free data" corpus.

Today, local paper registers are available in public libraries but voters can have their details excluded from edited registers made available electronically. The only exception is for credit reference agencies. "I can access the full database if I'm going to lend you money, but if I'm going to put you in charge of my children, I can't," Crawford says.

Need for change

Crawford's view is that making full registers widely available electronically is good for privacy as well as democracy. While there are no controls on private detectives or journalists trawling through paper registers, access to an electronic register could be recorded and audited. "Online is much safer. We log every access. These are all arguments for security and privacy."

At the Free Our Data campaign, we're not so certain - a line must be drawn somewhere to stop free data becoming a snooper's charter. Where we agree with Crawford is that the government needs a clear set of rules for making its data available to the knowledge economy with as few strings as possible.

This week, the government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information published a call for ministers to draw up a national strategy for public sector information. It notes that current policy on the knowledge economy was formulated seven years ago, "before the main enabling knowledge technologies had matured or had even been developed".

Crawford agrees on the need for change. "Small companies in this country are trying to make information freely available, but are being prevented at every hurdle."
