[tz] Pre-1970 data

[Guy Harris]

On Nov 5, 2021, at 4:49 AM, Alois Treindl via tz <tz at iana.org> wrote:

> Astrologers need pre-1970 data for correct astrological charts.

Do they need *correct*, *complete* pre-1970 data?

If so, then they either need to use a source other than tzdb or need to submit changes to the tzdb to provide that data, as the tzdb does *not* currently have it, and didn't necessarily even have it before Paul'z marging of zones.

> I accept that it is the responsibility of the 'astrological community' to collect and maintain historical time zone information. Thomas Shanks has been an important researcher in this field,

...some of whose reports for both pre-1970 *and* post-1970 data have been contradicted by other sources; see a number of comments in the northamerica file, for example.

> and his data were published in book format. Some people I do not need to mention now made wrong business decisions by trying to make these data their private intellectual property, but these attempts have successfully challenged and were rejected. 
> 
> We can collectively consider time zone history information published in books as free public domain data.
> 
> Of course I vote for the continued maintenance of pre-1970 data in TZDB.

...which will require continued work on the part of the community to correct errors and fix omissions in that data.