Is there a data license model which allows private usage but not sharing/publishing results or further sharing of the data?

The reason:
I am an open source software developer and in case of user bug reports which are data specific, e.g. non reproducible by my own data, I need access to this data. Further I know that I have users which like for example seeing their data in a video tutorial with a clear link to the data owner, but others do not.

To avoid potential conflicts I would like to try out that I can accept only licensed data. For the first group of users something like:

Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0

would be appropriate imo. Now is there a license which a user could put which allows me to fix the issue in my code, but does not allow me to "promote" the new capabilities of my software? A single user license, like existing in software code? Maybe a third one not allowing the freedom of doing anything but allowing educational purpose in form of a 5 min video?

I give such support outside of project time. I do not want to worry about what I am allowed to do and what not in my free time. If I only clearly accepted licensed data and offered two or three models which satisfy the needs and desires of the majority of my users, maybe my life gets easier.

  • I'm confused about "but not sharing/publishing results". I would use the data for something and then not be able to share the results I got from that? – Jan Doggen Feb 18 '17 at 18:30
  • @Jan Doggen yes, it is meant like a I can only make my program better but now show anyone the results. I encountered this wish already. My useres can also be master students while the data owner is the professor i was never in contact with. To avoid long communications regarding this every time I kind of want to try out that my users have to chooce a license so I know exactly what I can do and what not. – Jan Hackenberg Feb 20 '17 at 8:08

What you're asking for is basically a non-disclosure agreement. You can use, modify, whatever, but you're not allowed to share with somebody else. It is usually imposed by the data owner, if they have a good reason to make sure you don't share.

You could offer that as a 'service' to your users.

Copyright and licenses do usually not work that way. Especially with agglomerations of data, there're special paragraphs in some jurisdictions to be able to apply copyright to database collections. Data used to reproduce a bug, would usually not qualify for copyright. Check "threshold of originality"


The creative commons licence website has a questionnaire you can fill out to find a licence that meets your needs.

Do you think the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence meets your needs? The licence "permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, but not distribute derivative works based on it."

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