Lessig Calls for Free Debate Video

I doubt any politician (yes, even the eminently video-savvy Obama) will heed this call lest they upset catty TV execs, but at least someone made it. Lawrence Lessig asks that political parties ensure all Presidential debate video be made available via public domain or Creative Commons.

…the uncertainty about the scope of copyright regulation is increasingly one such burden on Internet political speech. This next political cycle will see an explosion of citizen generated political content. Some of that speech will be crafted from clips taken from the Presidential debates. Some of that will be fantastically valuable and important. Yet as the law is right now, it is extremely difficult for an ordinary citizen to understand the boundaries of “fair use,” or the limits to copyright law. It is likewise difficult for companies such as YouTube, or Blip.tv. Indeed, it is even difficult for a skilled practitioner. That uncertainty, if not checked, could produce a cloud over much of this political speech, as sites and universities don’t know how much is too much. It will certainly create a temptation by some politicians to invoke copyright law to block particularly effective speech critical of them.

Some friends (old and new) and I are therefore calling upon both major political parties to make this problem go away. Not by changing the law, or by supporting some expensive and time consuming litigation. But instead, by simply promising to require of any network broadcasting Presidential debates (at least) that they license the debates freely after they are initially broadcast — either by putting the debates into the public domain, or by permitting anyone to use or remix the contents of those debates, for any reason whatsoever, so long as there is attribution back to any purported copyright holder. (CC-BY)

Lessig makes a very interesting point: there’s much precedent for abusing copyright law to suppress unfavorable speech. Any party who actually does heed this call will demonstrate the most sincere respect for the people’s right to know. That’ll instantly give them massive moral ascendancy over the current administration.

(Via Jackson West.)