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This question's only answer provides a solution that requires registration and has associated costs.
Both are anti-open data and should be treated as such, however I know this question will be popular; AWS datasets/public datasets are/will be popular, and the same with AWS usage.
I flagged this for closing because it is at odds with Open Data; Frank (poster) mentioned meta, so here we are.
Thoughts?
For what its worth, there are ways to access AWS public datasets (I'm not sure about AWS datasets) without signing up and most certainly without paying a cent for access.

Edit: I don't want to get to pedantic about this. I support the OKFN's definition of open data, and I thought this site did. I've seen the wars on open source stack exchange around semantics and definitions and its truly not worth it to go back and forth constantly. Maybe we just need a formal definition here.

Edit 2: What Would You Pay for Faster Smarter Government Data is a podcast discussing how moving to the cloud can/may/will cost users.

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    Ok let me know when you guys agree on the definition (probably should have been done before) and then I'll continue the conversation.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 17, 2018 at 18:04
  • @FranckDernoncourt ha, you are part of the discussion too! we are equals on here, except for user scores, but that only differentiates between what we can/cannot do around certain admin tasks. my point is, i can't just decide. owners/admins can, if they should choose to do so. other then that, its just us agreeing or agreeing to disagree. also, i really don't want to force this. i do see your question as being extremely helpful to people searching for answers. it is just not clear to me if it fits this stack's model. actually, your answer taught me things i was not aware of.
    – albert
    Apr 17, 2018 at 20:29

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As mentioned in the comments:

This question's only answer provides a solution that requires registration

This website does already discuss data that require sign ups (e.g., MIMIC dataset: https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mimic-iii -> over 100 questions).

and has associated costs.

  1. I view AWS as implicit costs: you don't pay for the corpus; you pay for the host infrastructure.
  2. For small datasets, AWS is free

For what its worth, there are ways to access AWS public datasets (I'm not sure about AWS datasets) without signing up and most certainly without paying a cent for access.

A user may find a corpus on AWS and may fail to quickly find the same corpus somewhere else. E.g., in my answer I used Enron corpus with attachments, and it's not obvious to find it outside AWS. AWS Public Datasets contain many datasets, and it's useful for open data consumers to know how to access them.

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  • neither of these responses make it open data. mimic iii shouldn't be used as an answer if it requires registration; its existence in this space can be chalked up to ignorance, at least mine. had i known of it, i would have been flagging each question accordingly. as for the cost...if it costs anything != open data. you say yourself there are ways to do it without cost, why don't you post that as an answer?
    – albert
    Apr 15, 2018 at 2:57
  • @albert I think the issue is that we differ on the definition on open data. Plenty of researchers have qualified MIMIC as open data / open access, which means that, according to many researcher, open data may require signing up
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 15, 2018 at 3:00
  • @albert "you say yourself there are ways to do it without cost, why don't you post that as an answer?" -> I never said you can download the Enron corpus with attachments from AWS for free.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 15, 2018 at 3:01
  • plenty of researchers also have zero qualms locking up their work in pdfs behind paywalls, as well as not sharing their work for personal/professional gains. here is the official definition that i am using: opendefinition.org/od/2.1/en
    – albert
    Apr 16, 2018 at 21:03
  • my bad about the quote. i guess things are being lost in context, sorry. your quote that is highlighted says there are ways to access them without signing up and most certainly without paying. that is what i was referring to.
    – albert
    Apr 16, 2018 at 21:05
  • @albert When researchers place a PDF behind paywall, they don't call it open access.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 16, 2018 at 21:06
  • @FranckDernoncourt What do you want me to read on opendefinition.org/od/2.1/en? I have already mentioned twice that for small datasets, AWS is free.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 16, 2018 at 21:08
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    does AWS require a credit card for free tier access to a data set?
    – philshem
    Apr 17, 2018 at 10:28
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    i would read the whole definition.
    – albert
    Apr 17, 2018 at 13:06
  • @philshem sorry I don't recall.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 17, 2018 at 17:59
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    @albert I assume you sent me the link because some part of the definition was incompatible with AWS? If so let me know which one. Whatever they say, it looks like everyone has their own definition of open data anyway.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Apr 17, 2018 at 18:02
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    @philshem, credit card is required for the free tier and is a limit for the storage too ...
    – n1tk
    Apr 25, 2018 at 2:17

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