Rights and disclosure
Every record carries rights: who owns the content, under what licence it may be reused, who may see it and when it may be withdrawn. Openness serves verification and reuse, but some records hold personal, sensitive, culturally protected or commercially restricted information. This page sets out how licences, access classes, embargoes and withdrawals are recorded, where they conflict, and what rights holders and reviewers need before a record is disclosed to a wider audience.
- 01In briefThe short answer
- 02The questionRights and disclosure: how the risk develops
- 03Key termsTerms used on this page
- 04IndicatorsWhat is measured, and how well
- 05CanvasFrom sources to decisions
- 06SourcesWhere the evidence comes from
- 07DecisionsWho decides, and what the evidence serves
GCRI · Established · service level R0
The short answer.
Data licences state on what terms a record may be reused; with access classes, embargoes and withdrawal rules they decide who may see a record and when. Openness serves verification and reuse, while some records hold personal, sensitive, culturally protected or commercially restricted information that needs review before wider release.
People and hazards in World.
For rights and disclosure, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on true-colour imagery, population density and night lights with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on World; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
People and hazards, for this page
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
For rights and disclosure, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on true-colour imagery, population density and night lights with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on World; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · GDACS · Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A · NASA HLS S30Sources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live: GDACS (EC JRC / UN OCHA) Events are indicative, not official warnings.
- Observed (EO): Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026), Microsoft Planetary Computer
- Observed (EO): NASA HLS S30 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Optional layers (35 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
Interoperability console, in outline.
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Interoperability console
Rights and disclosure · Crosswalk · Profile v2
Field mappings
| identifier | id | copy | Pass |
| evidence_label | quality.label | enum map | Pass |
| licence | rights.licence | SPDX id | Ambiguous |
| version | version | semver | Pass |
Conformance
Rights and disclosure: how the risk develops.
Publication rights, withdrawal and audience. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Licence ambiguity
A record has no licence, a licence in prose only, or one licence on the landing page and another in the metadata. Careful reusers avoid it, careless ones reuse it wrongly, and holders cannot enforce terms that were never stated clearly.
Audience leakage
A record meant for a programme team is exported, cached or indexed alongside public ones. Restricted fields appear in search results or partner copies, and once harvested the disclosure cannot be reversed.
Embargo slippage
Embargo end dates are recorded but not enforced, or enforced but not recorded. Content is released early against agreements, or stays closed long after obligations end, defeating the openness that funders require.
Withdrawal against the record
A rights holder asks for removal while the scholarly record calls for persistence. Erasure rights, takedown notices and retraction norms pull in different directions, and an unrecorded removal leaves citations pointing at nothing.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Machine-readable licence | A licence expressed in a standard identifier or vocabulary, such as SPDX or a Creative Commons URL, that software can read. |
| Embargo | A set period during which a record is withheld from a wider audience before release. |
| Access class | A category that sets which audience may see a record, from public to restricted. |
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Records with a machine-readable licence | share of records | monthly | Licence metadata | OBSERVED |
| Records with an access class | share of records | monthly | Schema validation | OBSERVED |
| Licence conflicts between metadata and landing page | count | quarterly | Sampled comparison | OBSERVED |
| Embargoes past their end date and unreleased | count | weekly | Embargo register | OBSERVED |
| Withdrawal and takedown requests | count by stated ground | quarterly | Case records | REPORTED |
| Time to act on a takedown request | days | per case | Case records | OBSERVED |
| Disclosure reviews completed before wider release | share of releases | monthly | Review records | OBSERVED |
From sources to decisions.
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Commons licence suite | Standard licences with machine-readable identifiers for reuse terms | Licence texts free to use |
| SPDX License List | Standard short identifiers for software and data licences | Open data, free to reuse |
| RightsStatements.org | Standard statements of copyright and reuse status for cultural and research objects | Open, free to apply |
| Local Contexts Hub | Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels and Notices attached to records | Free to use under Local Contexts terms |
| Sherpa Romeo | Publisher and journal policies on self-archiving and embargoes | Free to search, Jisc terms |
| W3C ODRL Information Model | A vocabulary for permissions, prohibitions and duties in machine-readable form | W3C document licence, free to implement |
| cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool | Routes to compliance with funder open access requirements | Free to use |
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Nexus Registry prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Rights holders and authors | Under which licence and to which audience a record may be released | Funder requirements, publisher policies and the record's sensitive fields |
| Data protection officers | Whether personal data in a record may be disclosed, restricted or erased | Access class, lawful basis, retention and the public interest in a persistent record |
| Indigenous data governance bodies | Whether and how community data or knowledge may be shared | CARE principles, Local Contexts labels and the community's recorded terms |
| Platform publishers and repository managers | Whether to act on a takedown or withdrawal request | The request's grounds, the rights record and the policy for leaving a tombstone |
Outputs this topic produces
- Rights panels showing licence, rights holder, access class and embargo for every record
- A disclosure review step before any record moves to a wider audience
- A withdrawal and takedown route with its grounds and the tombstone it leaves
- Machine-readable licence identifiers carried in every export
What experts ask about disclosure.
- Who holds the right to publish a record, and who can veto it?
- How should audiences be defined when a record is useful but sensitive?
- When does a public interest in disclosure outweigh a private interest in protection?
- How is protected and Indigenous knowledge kept under its holders' control?
- What remains visible after a record is withdrawn?
Why disclosure decisions are hard.
Disclosure risk is cumulative. A record that is harmless alone can identify a person or a vulnerable site when combined with others, which is why statistical agencies apply disclosure control before releasing data. Rights are also layered: an author may hold copyright, a funder may require open access, a community may hold collective rights over traditional knowledge, and a data subject holds privacy rights that override both.
Research data communities summarize the aim as findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, while principles for Indigenous data governance add collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics. The Registry's three classes, public, restricted and protected, are described on rights and visibility.
How rights are applied.
- 01
Classification at entry
Each record receives a visibility class and licence before release, decided by its owner within the law.
- 02
Audience control
Restricted records are visible only to people authorized for a purpose, enforced with access controls from cybersecurity and cryptography.
- 03
Withdrawal
Withdrawal removes a record from public view; its identifier resolves to a notice with the date and any replacement.
- 04
Limits
Nothing published can be fully recalled. Disclosure judgements involve values as well as rules, and re-identification risk changes as other data becomes available.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- Cybersecurity and cryptographyTamper-evident record history · Signed exports and releases · Threat modelling of edit pathsApplied here
- Digital identity and public digital systemsIssuer authentication and authority · Contributor disambiguation by the personApplied here
- Data engineering, interoperability and stewardshipSchema-validated ingestion · Persistent identifier reconciliation · Lineage capture in pipelinesApplied here
Questions and answers.
Why is a record without a licence a problem?
What is left when a record is withdrawn?
How do the CARE principles relate to open data?
Can a published record be made private again?
Can the Registry publish a record because it is in the public interest?
Where do privacy requests go?
Are restricted records listed publicly?
Around Nexus Registry.
Bring your expertise to this field.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.