Clarify definition of Liability Statement

[hmaier-fws]

Name: Hilmar Maier

Affiliation: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region

Type of issue: Schema (class definition)

Issue:

Clarify definition of Liability Statement

A "liability statement" is a disclaimer intended to avoid being held "legally responsible" for some action (see: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disclaimer, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/liability). The current definition is overly broad and conflates existing use restrictions/constraints with legal liability issues. For example, the "usage notes" indicate that the liability statement should provide information regarding several properties including:

• The accuracy or completeness of the dataset and
• Limitations on how the dataset may be used

The above properties are more appropriate for inclusion in the proposed "UseRestriction" class, which is described as: "...a set of rules, guidelines, or legal provisions that dictate how a particular resource, asset, information, or object can be utilized".

Essentially, the "liability statement" should be used to say that if you don't read the "use restrictions", don't blame use for your problems!

Recommended change(s):

Restrict the definition to properties that relate directly to a limitation of legal liability. Proposed definition change

from: A formal declaration accompanying a dataset [delete: which outlines the responsibilities and limitations of the data provider in terms of the accuracy, completeness, and potential use of the data. It often serves] intended to limit the legal exposure of the data provider by [delete: defining the scope of allowed uses and] disclaiming warranties or guarantees.

to: A formal declaration accompanying a dataset intended to limit the legal exposure of the data provider by disclaiming warranties or guarantees.

This would also better align DCAT-US with the widely used CSDGM and ISO 19115-series of metadata standards. Import of metadata from those standards could then be accomplished without the need to concatenate and/or map existing metadata elements to multiple DCAT-US elements (e.g. "liability statement" and "useRestriction). Both CSDM and ISO contain distinct elements that describe "use constraints" or restrictions, e.g.:

• CSDGM useconst: These include any use constraints applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on using the data set
• CSDGM purpose: a summary of the intentions with which the data set was developed
• ISO Constraint class which includes
  • useLimitation: limitation affecting the fitness for use of the resource or metadata. Example, "not to be used for navigation"
  • accessConstraints: applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the resource or metadata
  • useConstraints: applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations or warnings on using the resource or metadata
  • otherConstraints: other restrictions and legal prerequisites for accessing and using the resource or metadata

[fellahst]

Updated and clarified definition and usage note of Liability Statement

[fellahst]

A section for legal metadata in usage guideline has been added in the specification. This section can be used as starting point for discussion and review by legal experts.