Snippets of culture
From the Beeb, with a caveat (via Boing Boing):
Free internet access to thousands of clips from public service radio and TV programmes is a step closer after the launch of the Creative Archive Licence.The BBC, Channel 4, the British Film Institute (BFI) and The Open University (OU) launched the scheme on Wednesday.
...
It is hoped the Creative Archive Licence will give media users legal access to material which they can use to express their creativity and share their knowledge.
It will allow people to download and use footage and audio for non-commercial purposes, with each user agreeing to abide by the licence conditions before gaining access to any of the available material.
The archive was set up after the BBC pledged to "help establish a common resource which will extend the public's access while protecting the commercial rights of intellectual property owners".
The Creative Archive Licence is inspired by the Creative Commons system - a flexible copyright arrangement pioneered in the US to stimulate creativity.
More about the launch of the Creative Archive License can be found in this story from the Guardian Unlimited. The Creative Archive License site is here. And according to Rule #5 of the license:
5. UK The Creative Archive content is made available to broadband users within the UK for use [primarily] within the UK.
This is happiness making on general principles, even if the non-UK world is on the outside looking in for now. According to the FAQ, there's no DRM attached to the files, but something called "GEOIP filtering" will only allow UK-based IP addresses to access the BBC site; hopefully, it's a temporary thing while the project is still in pilot mode (for the next 18 months).
There's even a shout-out to peer-to-peer technology in the FAQ:
I heard that Creative Archive will be using P2P technology. Isn't that illegal?Peer to Peer (P2P) distribution technologies are certainly one of the technologies that will make it possible for large files to be sustainably distributed online and therefore of great interest to the Creative Archive. The good news is that the technology is not illegal. When used for the distribution of legally licensed material, it provides an efficient and cost effective means of sharing and distributing content on the internet.
And just maybe, one day, I can own the Parrot Sketch.