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C-SPAN Changes Rules to Clear Pelosi's Blog
It turns out that Republicans were right: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did violate C-SPAN's copyright by using its televised footage on her blog promoting Democrats. Officials for the cable TV network that provides daily gavel-to-gavel coverage of House and Senate proceedings at first said the blog was in violation, then announced it wasn't. On Wednesday, they said that it was but that they're changing their policy so that it won't be in the future. The new copyright policy will allow non-commercial Internet users to share and post C-SPAN video as long as they attribute it to the public service channel. "Given our background and our history, an open approach is the most consistent with our mission," said Rob Kennedy, C-SPAN's president. "We are now saying under the new policy that that will be OK, for her or any blogger or citizen journalist" to post C-SPAN video online.
Story Continues Below Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the speaker's office took down copyrighted C-SPAN video when the network asked that it be removed. Kennedy said that C-SPAN had been considering the new copyright rules for more than a a year but that "there were several incidents that brought the issue into relief with us." He mentioned last spring's flap with YouTube over C-SPAN video of comedian Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the brief furor over Pelosi's blog. Last month, the channel insisted that Pelosi, D-Calif., wasn't violating C-SPAN's copyright by posting its video of House proceedings on her blog, The Gavel. On Wednesday, Kennedy acknowledged there was a violation. That's not what Bruce Collins, C-SPAN's general counsel, told Republicans last month when a group of conservative House members accused the speaker of violating copyright law by posting C-SPAN video on her blog. On Feb. 15, the House Republican Study Committee issued a news release in which its spokesman, Brad Dayspring, Pelosi's blog violated copyright and trademark law by posting C-SPAN video online. Hours later, Dayspring retracted the release after Collins called him and said there was no violation. A C-SPAN statement Wednesday said the network is implementing a "liberalized copyright policy for current, future, and past coverage of any official events sponsored by Congress and any federal agency ... which will allow non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, with attribution." Dayspring said Wednesday that Republicans are "pleased that C-SPAN has set the record straight and ... is proud to have been a small catalyst for this long overdue improvement." Pelosi's office also issued a statement saying she was pleased that C-SPAN is expanding access to its video coverage of federal government activities.
© 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note:
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