[A2k] Obama supports public access to presidential debates

[Benjamin Krohmal]

<I am writing in strong support of a letter from a bipartisan
coalition of academics, bloggers and Internet activists recently
addressed to you and the Democratic National Committee. The letter
asks that the video from any Democratic Presidential debate be
available freely after the debate, by either placing the video in the
public domain, or licensing it under a Creative Commons (Attribution)
license.>

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/05/03/obama_urges_dean_to_make_video.php

Obama Urges Dean to Make Video of Democratic Debates Available to the
Public
| May 03, 2007

Chicago, IL -- Senator Barack Obama today sent a letter to Democratic
National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean urging the DNC to make
the video from any Democratic Presidential debate publicly available
after the debate for free and without restriction.

The text of Obama's letter is below:

Chairman Howard Dean

Democratic National Committee

430 S. Capitol St., SE

Washington, DC 20003


Dear Chairman Dean:

I am writing in strong support of a letter from a bipartisan
coalition of academics, bloggers and Internet activists recently
addressed to you and the Democratic National Committee. The letter
asks that the video from any Democratic Presidential debate be
available freely after the debate, by either placing the video in the
public domain, or licensing it under a Creative Commons (Attribution)
license.

As you know, the Internet has enabled an extraordinary range of
citizens to participate in the political dialogue around this
election. Much of that participation will take the form of citizen
generated content. We, as a Party, should do everything that we can
to encourage this participation. Not only will it keep us focused on
the issues that matter most to America, it will also encourage
participation by a wide range of our youth who have traditionally
simply tuned out from politics.

The letter does not propose some radical change in copyright law, or
an unjustified expansion in "fair use." Instead, it simply asks that
any purported copyright owner of video from the debates waive that
copyright.

I am a strong believer in the importance of copyright, especially in
a digital age. But there is no reason that this particular class of
content needs the protection. We have incentive enough to debate. The
networks have incentive enough to broadcast those debates. Rather
than restricting the product of those debates, we should instead make
sure that our democracy and citizens have the chance to benefit from
them in all the ways that technology makes possible.

Your presidential campaign used the Internet to break new ground in
citizen political participation. I would urge you to take the lead
again by continuing to support this important medium of political
speech. And I offer whatever help I can to secure the support of
others as well.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama