ALT Screenshot of the National Data Library data catalogue interface, all shiny and new
ALT Screenshot of GeoPlace LLP's service status page: FindMyAddress, FindMyStreet and DataVia services unavailable Update - Update 16:09: A full fix will most likely be implemented tomorrow (Thursday 26th March 2026). We apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing, and would recommend checking back tomorrow morning where there will either be an update or the site will be working again. Mar 25, 2026 - 16:17 GMT Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. Mar 25, 2026 - 12:50 GMT Investigating - We are currently investigating this issue. Mar 25, 2026 - 09:37 GMT
ALT In the UK addresses – for example, "29 Acacia Road, Beanotown" – are maintained by local authorities. The list of address changes as flats, houses and offices get developed and demolished. These local lists are collected into a national dataset and made accessible to other public and private sector organisations. While this happens address data gets tangled up in a complex web of other organisations who end up holding some intellectual property rights in the data, particularly the Royal Mail and the Ordnance Survey. The Royal Mail is a business and the Ordnance Survey is a business owned by the government. Because they are businesses their primary goal has become to generate revenue for themselves by selling the data, rather than maximising the public good that could be created from using the data. As a result the UK's address data has become expensive, hard to access, not always accurate, and hard to correct.
ALT Simultaneously to the public and policy conversation about the importance of re-usable information and data to AI and other contemporary technologies, there is the question of whether the owners and authors of digital information and data are receiving a just and sustainable return in the age of algorithmic reproduction, and if not, how they might. The OGL is closely aligned to Creative Commons CC-BY licence, a centrepiece of the open knowledge and culture movement. However, in June 2025 Creative Commons launched CC Signals, a proposal for a different model 'as to how machines (and the humans controlling them) should contribute back to the commons when they reuse and benefit from using the content'. The proposal noted that AI's usage of data has fundamentally changed the web, and the 'social contract' that underpinned machine use of it. …
ALT Screenshot from getAddress() website with message: "Due to a recent court decision, GetAddress.io is currently unavailable. We will provide more information is as soon as we can."
