> Cory Doctorow > Electronic Frontier Foundation > Unit 306 > 456-458 Strand > London WC2R 0DZ > cory@eff.org > > > Matthew Hill > Programme Manager, BBC Charter Review > Broadcasting Policy Division > Department for Culture, Media and Sport > 2-4 Cockspur Street > London SW1Y 5DH > > July 23, 2004 > > Dear Mr Hill, > > I write to you today on behalf of the Electronic Frontier > Foundation (EFF), a civil liberties group headquartered in San > Francisco, USA, in the matter of the BBC's Charter Renewal. > > EFF fought and won many of the key battles that established the > freedoms currently enjoyed on the Internet: among them, the fight > to allow members of the public access to strong cryptography > (scrambling) tools in order to safeguard their private > communications and the fight to have email treated as private > communications by law-enforcement, which created the first > precedent requiring a signed warrant before interception of > electronic communications. > > Today, the organisation continues with its traditional civil > liberties work, but with a new major area of practice: copyright. > As the world's entertainment companies battle their tens of > millions of customers who have flocked to the peer-to-peer (P2P) > file-sharing networks such as Kazaa, the collateral damage for > all Internet users mounts unchecked. In Europe and in the USA, > new legislative efforts such as the EUCD, the EU Intellectual > Property Rights Enforcement Directive and the Digital Millennium > Copyright Act (DMCA) have cast broad and indiscriminate nets over > all Internet users, eroding traditional rights to due process, > privacy, and free expression. > > The P2P wars have been a disaster for all parties: the > entertainment industry, creators, fans, and members of the public > simply caught in the crossfire. > > The BBC's proposed Creative Archive has the potential to serve as > a desperately needed break to this deadlock. Few organisations in > the world have both the reputation and vision necessary to > contemplate such an inspirational move as placing a > nearly-bottomless archive of publicly funded material into the > hands of the public who paid for it. > > Such an example could be the piece that restores sanity to the > debate. Creators would benefit from a higher profile and from the > opportunity to reclaim warehoused commercial rights to their > works in exchange for granting the BBC the noncommercial rights > needed by the Creative Archive. Britons would benefit through the > opportunities to reinforce and celebrate their culture as > embodied in the Archive and the new works made from it. > Rightsholders will benefit from the heightened profile of their > works as they are incorporated into new creative pieces. > > The Creative Archive will also benefit the commercial broadcast > sector, by stimulating demand for broadband-delivered material > and by giving average Britons new expectations as to how they may > use the programming that make up the UK's cultural fabric. > > Most importantly the successful execution of the world's largest > "open content" project in history would forever transform the P2P > debate by aligning consumers' normative expectations and the > creative industries' incentives. It would shift the discussion > from "How many of our customers do we have to sue before they > stop downloading copyrighted works?" to one of "How can we enlist > the support of our audience to capitalise on the most efficient > system for creating, reproducing and distributing copyright ever > conceived?" > > In EFF's view, this would be a valuable and lasting contribution > to cultural development. In a world where teenagers and OAPs are > being bankrupted for downloads, where laws that ensure > traditional judicial oversight of searches are set aside in the > name of expedient copyright enforcement, where thousands of > machine-generated, indiscriminate takedown notices shut down > untold consumer Internet connections every day -- websites that > may be hosting nothing more than a child's school report on Harry > Potter -- the advent of the Creative Archive would be of > incalculable aid to a peaceful resolution to the P2P wars. > > EFF asks that the DCMS support the Governors in enshrining the > Creative Archive in the BBC's new charter, incorporating language > that would yield > > * an archive that contains the largest amount of work possible, > > * at the highest possible resolution, > > * under terms that allow for any noncommercial reuse by Britons, > and others with whom the BBC strikes a quid-pro-quo bargain (for > example, a swap of access to the Creative Archive for Canadians > in exchange for access to the CBC's own archive) > > * without the use of technological "locks" (i.e. Digital Rights > Management, or DRM, systems), > > * in open formats unencumbered by patents, copyrights or other > strictures that would restrict who may make tools for playing > back and creatively "remixing" the BBC's material. > > Such an archive would truly position the BBC and Britain as the > world's leader in digital creativity. > > Thank you for your kind attention. I am stationed in London, and > would be delighted to discuss this further if you have any > concerns or questions. > > Sincerely, > > Cory Doctorow > > European Affairs Coordinator > > Electronic Frontier Foundation