Electronic Frontier Foundation Supports BBC's "Creative Archive"

London, UK -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) provided written testimony on Saturday to the UK government committee evaluating the charter renewal for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The testimony supports the BBC's request to build the "Creative Archive," a groundbreaking project that would make the entire archive of BBC material available online.

The Creative Archive is among the most ambitious "open content" projects ever undertaken. When it is realized, the BBC's rich archive of material, going back to the earliest days of radio and television, will be placed online under a "Creative Commons" license that allows the British citizens who paid for the material through the TV tax to distribute and creatively reuse it.

"The BBC's public service mission created a media production culture for Britain. Today, that culture stands to explode into a 'Creative Nation' where ordinary Britons can reap new benefits from previously fallow resources. The BBC's Creative Archive is the purest and most exciting exercise of its remit to date, and it should be enshrined in its new charter," said Cory Doctorow, European Affairs Coordinator at EFF. "The building of the Creative Archive is a watershed moment in the history of the BBC and of the world. It has the power to strengthen cultural identity for the coming generation of Britons, to benefit UK cultural institutions, artists, and commercial broadcasters, and to lift the whole world to a new heights of creativity, freedom, and cooperation."

EFF testimony:
http://www.eff.org/IP/BBC_CMSC_testimony.php

Contact:
Cory Doctorow
European Affairs Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cory@eff.org