Thursday, June 17, 2004
On free content, BBC rules.One of my favorite reads is the Canarie list broadcasts sent about 10 times a month. Today's broadcast was old news, but it got me thinking. And, naturally, thinking leads to other bad ideas.
Today's editorial from the Canarie list is about the plan the BBC has to release all of its archived content digitally on the web. For free. The argument goes as follows:
1. The BBC and other channels in Britain are paid for by the people.
2. All content created by or for those channels is therefore public property.
3. Ergo the public should have free access to this material where possible.
Prior to the age of the internet this task would have been much less feasible. Not impossible. Libraries have been stocked with videos for ages. But converting atoms to bits and back into atoms is an expensive process. Not that archiving rich media on a content network is not expensive. But anyway, it's not about the money.
What's it about, then?
I think it's about the great copyright bargain and a long tradition in British Copyright that insists the public not only protect copyrights for those who produce content privately but to make all content available to the public via libraries. The fact that the BBC went after this goal without much opposition (none visible to my eyes anyway) is proof perhaps that socialism has a certain creative approach more laudable than capitalism. Capitalism has always prided itself on ingenuity. With capital incentives, creativity goes un-rewarded. But with a more social system, the reward can be both monetary and social. Isn't it better to have your show seen than to wallow privately in hoarded earnings? Ask James Cameron if he'd rather have a long-lasting break-even series or a short money-making series.
Left to its own devices, is capitalism actually be less rewarding to the creative endeavor?
Comments:
Libraries are full of people with ideas. They go there because ultimately getting input leads to self-expression. In case it wasn't clear already, that's the link between copyright and creativity.
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