BBC 'Creative Commons-inspired' licences don't allow website distribution!
I reported a couple of days ago about the
This is all well and good, however the FAQs on those new sites contain the shock revelation that the archive material cannot be re-distributed on websites!
Now, the license hasn’t change, and the problem lies with the ‘UK-only’ clause, which only allows the material to be used in the UK, due to the fact that we’re the ones paying the license fee and the BBC wants to retain the rights to fleece oversees punters (reading between the lines here). Now that’s all well and good, if not entirely ideal, but it’s never been clear how this regional restriction applies to the internet. The BBC uses IP address geo-matching databases to try and prevent non-nationals from downloading the content. I’d always assumed that this was as much to do with saving bandwidth costs as to do with rights though.
The license itself specifies the UK-only clause only in the definitions section by saying that “‘Licence’ means this Creative Archive licence for use within the UK”. Surely then, if I’m a UK resident, it would be within the terms of the license for me to use the license and publish my work on a website from the UK? No mention is made of the user having to enforce the terms of the license on anyone who happens to re-use my work.
Before the new regional creative archive sites were launched, there was no mention on the Creative Archive site anywhere of not being able to redistribute on the internet (surely one of the most important points?). However, the FAQs on the new website include the following question:
Can I put content released under the Creative Archive Licence onto a website?
During this pilot phase material released under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence cannot be used outside the UK. Therefore, unless a website has its use restricted to the UK only, content from the Open Earth Archive cannot be published on it.
This is because content made available under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence may not be wholly owned by the member of the Creative Archive Licence Group making it available. Each item of content made available will have been cleared with the owners of the rights in it. However, because the members of the Creative Archive Licence Group are funded with public money to service the UK population, they are unable to clear non-UK rights and have to restrict use to the UK.
The phrase ‘unless a website has its use restricted to the UK only’ isn’t particularly specific. Does this mean that you have to use Geo-IP filtering, like the BBC? Could you get away with forcing people to type in a postcode? How about simply saying “content for UK users only”? Bafflingly, neither the BFI or Teachers.tv, both of which have creative archive material for download and are partners in the project, use any form of UK-only restriction. I’m not even sure if the BBC Comedy Soup Creative Archive asset library has the Geo-IP restriction in place… (tell me if I’m wrong).
In PR terms, the BBC has been shouting from the rooftop about the Creative Archive project and how they’re encouraging people to remix their content. The whole project comes from the New Media division. And so for the license to disallow online redistribution would be a complete joke.
I hope the BBC simply made a mistake in putting that paragraph into the new FAQs, and can issue some reassurance. If not, the project is dead in the water before it has begun.
Meanwhile, I’m going to risk receiving a cease-and-desist letter by reproducing another Creative Archive licensed image. Non UK readers, look away now… :-)
Licensed under the Creative Archive licence. Credit: BBC.
Update: The website Free Culture has published an open letter to the BBC calling for more work to be released under the free-est licences possible. Interestingly, they also make the point I make above about how useful it would be to have rushes and seperated audio. People are free to add their names to the bottom of the letter, as I have done.
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