CBC and iCopyright
We’ve been listening to the conversations over the last day regarding CBC’s use of iCopyright to manage the usage rights for content originating from CBC.ca.
Some of the recent commentary seems to be driven by a misunderstanding of what we're trying to do, so we wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a few misconceptions that have been floating around.
What does CBC’s use of iCopyright mean for Canadians? Simply put, not a lot has changed.
We continue to welcome appropriate use of our content in blog posts, social networks and other online media. There’s no charge to do that.
And even with iCopyright in place you’ll still be able to excerpt from stories originating from CBC.ca. If you’re writing a blog post and want to quote one of our stories, you can.
You’ll also still be able to post links to CBC.ca content on blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter or other online media at no charge and will continue to offer free RSS stories for websites (found here).
Our rules for the use of our content have not changed with the iCopyright agreement. What the agreement does do is, continues to provide ways for our content to be used but reduces our administrative costs.
The other question that’s been raised is why the CBC, a public broadcaster funded by taxpayers, would ask Canadians to pay to repost our content in full.
Licensing fees aren’t new to the CBC and while it's true that Canadian taxpayers support a significant portion of what we do, it doesn’t cover the total cost of the many services we provide. We need to generate revenues to offset our expenses, this is true for CBC Television and it is especially true for CBC.ca, where the scope has expanded significantly over the past dozen years.
Finally, we’ve heard those who have wondered whether iCopyright/CBC are now trying to impose “American rules” on Canadians and why Canada’s National Public Broadcaster would partner with an American company in this endeavor.
As will always be the case, Canadian rules will apply to Canadians. While iCopyright is an American company it has offices in Canada and provides services to other major Canadian organizations.
We hope this helps to answer a few questions that have emerged over the last 24 hours.
Yours,
Chris Ball
CBC Online Media Relations.
Twitter: @chrisjballCBC
