In Israel, Class-Action Plaintiff Requests Waze Source Code Under GPL

jonklinger (1166633) writes "A class action lawsuit was brought against Waze (a community-based traffic and navigation app), claiming that their source code and map data were licensed to Waze by the community under the GPL. The plaintiff, Roey Gorodish, requests a copy of the recent source code and map data. This is (as far as I know) the first ever GPL class action suit, too bad it will be quashed by bad facts later as I see it." Google seems to do a credible translation of this source article.

What basis for this case?

[gnasher719]

So is there any code in Waze that isn't now owned by Google and that was given to Waze under the GPL license? Can we see the exact terms and conditions under which users give data to Waze? You can make all kinds of claims, but eventually you have to come up with the goods (unless you are SCO obviously).

Under US law you have no right to the source code. A copyright owner may have the right to sue for copyright infringement. We'll see how this is different in Israel.

A far more interesting story

[phozz bare]

I believe a far more interesting story about Waze has eluded Slashdot:

Two Technion students reverse-engineered Waze's method for detecting a traffic jam, then created a network of fake clients that reported traffic patterns that caused Waze to mark as jammed what was in reality a perfectly empty road.

Sources: Jerusalem Post [jpost.com], Wired [wired.co.uk].

Re:WTF if Waze?

[interkin3tic]

It's basically google maps with a different skin, and you can report things like speedtraps and accidents. And you get points, so there's a game aspect I suppose.

That's it. It's one of those "tech" companies that seem absurdly overvalued based on how little they actually do. In no sane world would it be worth the billion google paid for it. And on top of that, although the interface for reporting stuff is designed to be as minimal as possible and they prevent you from typing and driving, there's no way it's safe to use. I've used it, so I'm a hypocrite there, but it is a driving hazard.

Israeli Here...

[Anonymous Coward]

A few articles on this. First of all, why not link to the actual article rather than this guy's blog?

http://www.themarker.com/technation/1.2281212#

Google translate works decently well, but I am happy to translate if anyone cares.

Secondly, as someone who knows some of the parties on both sides (directly and indirectly - Israel is a "small" place), I can tell you this claim has a lot of credit from what I have seen and heard so far. The founders of Waze clearly were after a money grab for a long time and would do anything to get it.

Regarding Waze itself, the app became popular in Israel mostly because everything else including a lot of GPS devices had the worst maps of Israel you can imagine. Waze built its entire business here in Israel (where it took off initially and spread to the rest of the world) on the basis of having better maps than everyone else. That was always the #1 thing they said and selling point, so to use other people's code and data is very serious here. As for the app itself, it had huge problems with zooming, spamming, and all kinds of things. I think everyone was a sort of reluctant user if not for the maps. For example, people love spamming police still, putting stupid things like "snow ahead" in the middle of the summer which is obviously moronic in most of Israel, and so on. Not to mention the map itself becomes a litter of icons and stupid things if you don't turn tons of things off, and it eats your battery.

The idea of "social" mapping and a map out without any real possibility of a revenue stream that won't piss off users is ridiculous. I am shocked Google paid anything for it other than to crush it, and yet they are hiring heavily for Waze in Israel right now. They have always been a pretty cocky company here and if the allegations are true which it seems, they deserve everything they get and more.