One of the most interesting features of Web 2.0 is the idea of the ‘remixable web‘ – i.e. to take data/content from multiple sources and combine it to create something new and useful.  The biggest risk for Web 2.0 idealogs is that they will recieve the dreaded cease and desist letter.  Although some relish its effects (see FedEx Funiture Guy), most must hire a lawyer to respond. 

This morning I read a post on The Shout blog, written by Ms. Granick of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society.  She detailed an example of this sort of risk.  The folks at Nacredata created a volunteer website called katrinalist.net to help locate the victims of hurricane Katrina.  Soon after launch they received a cease and desist letter from Gulf Coast News indicating,

"Devin, Your company, Nacredata, and your actions of scraping data from the GCN Survivor/Connector Database from our website at www.gulfcoastnews.com violates our copyright. You and your company DO NOT have permission to use our data and your distribution of our information violates the trust that people have provided to GCN in providing that information."

I think this sort of sums up the risks – even for a good cause there is someone out there that does not want you to use their data.  If you are taking part in the remixable web, take some time to talk to the people who own the data you plan to use first…