Letter to the climbing community
To the climbing community:
The OpenBeta team and I recently received valuable feedback from community members who are upset that their contributions to the MountainProject website have appeared on the OpenBeta website without permission and attribution. We take community feedback seriously and use this as an opportunity to update and improve our approach.
As a climber from Portland, Oregon, I originally started OpenBeta as an educational project, using rock climbing data as a foundation for coding tutorials on web development and data science.
In 2021, after onXmaps acquired MountainProject, their lawyers sent OpenBeta a cease-and-desist letter, claiming ownership of the user-generated content in the data files shared by OpenBeta, which temporarily shut the project down. Thanks to the support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), we were able to clarify that OpenBeta’s use of route information found on MountainProject is fair use due to the nature of the project being transformative, noncommercial, and primarily factual.
Most importantly, this experience sparked a much-needed discussion about the ownership and accessibility of climbing information in the digital space. I and several passionate volunteers started building a new version of OpenBeta with the vision that climbers should have stewardship over climbing data, with the freedom to share and reuse information openly.
However, in pursuing this mission, we also made mistakes — we failed to properly contact authors on MountainProject to communicate our intentions and obtain permission. We sincerely apologize to all of you whose written work has appeared on our website without permission or attribution.
We’re planning the following adjustments based on the feedback:
Remove descriptions that are not created by OpenBeta users.
Create a process for users to import their contributions from other websites.
We believe in the power of open information, but we also understand that transparency must be accompanied by accountability. We are dedicated to learning from this and ensuring that OpenBeta continues to be a project driven by and for the community.
As a grassroots organization driven by a shared passion for climbing, we invite all climbers to join us in shaping the future of open access to climbing data. The OpenBeta team and I hope to continue hearing from you as we implement these changes. Please reach out to me directly anytime at viet@openbeta.io.
Viet Nguyen
OpenBeta Project Lead
—
EFF Letter: https://www.eff.org/document/eff-letter-mountain-project-re-openbeta-redacted