When the presidential debates are aired by CNN on June 3rd and 5th, the public will be able to edit, remix, parody and publish the footage ? without worrying about copyright violation. CNN has pledged to make debate footage available to the public ?without restriction.?
CNN's decision comes on a heels of an open letter from a broad coalition of scholars, public advocates, and Internet entrepreneurs calling for the release of all debate footage under a Creative Commons license. Several major candidates have also joined the call.
This fight isn't over yet, however. Not all future debates will be hosted by CNN, and as you can see from MSNBC's rules concerning re-use of footage of the May 3rd debate footage (via Jeff Jarvis), not everyone gets it when it comes to citizen-generated content.
