clarification of valid justifications to maintain datasets behind paywall

[jameslaneconkling]

Hoping this is the correct place to post questions about the project itself (rather than technical site issues). Can migrate this discussion elsewhere if there is another more appropriate forum.

I have been trying to track down the requirements for agencies to keep datasets behind paywalls. Section D of the implementation guide outlines requirements for documenting decisions to keep a dataset non-public, but unless I missed it, I haven't been able to find if/how this would apply to datasets that are available for a fee.

Does the Project provide requirements/guidance on this? Thanks for the help

[philipashlock]

There's some guidance for the rights field to explain the type of accessLevel selected as well as guidance on FOIA exemptions that warrant redactions, and we've had some discussion about specific statutory restrictions on the use of certain datasets, but I don't think there's any guidance that would cover a dataset behind a paywall. The main scenarios where I've seen fees for data is if the fee is part of the fee structure for a unique FOIA request or if the fee is meant to cover a legally recognized data certification process, but I'm not aware of any paywalls for commonly requested data. Do you have any specific paywall or data fee case studies we could investigate?

[jameslaneconkling]

The data source in mind, which I've used before but have always been kind of hamstrung by the cost and licensing, is LandScan by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, funded (I think) by the DOE.

The actual distribution of the dataset--for whatever reason--is via a private company, EastView Geospatial, which holds exclusive rights to the distribution. Licensing fees, last I checked, run from $1k - $7k+.

Really curious what the legal guidelines for paywalls are, given that many of the usual issues w/ open data (security in particular) are not in these cases particularly valid.