Internet Policy Discussion

Submitted by Colleen Pancake on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 14:53.

Policy

Policy Committee Forum
June 2009

Community Access Television of Fayetteville, Arkansas has entered the digital age and our Policy Committee is formulating some questions about the rules of the new game as they pertain to our organization and the people we serve. Please feel free to participate in this ongoing investigation. If you have questions on these topics, please add them to the list. If you have information or know resources that can help us, please share. This will be an ongoing forum, open to the public. All we ask is that anyone who participates please give your name and a way of contacting you for verification purposes.

Issues under discussion:
1. Copyright
2. Fair Use
3. Royalty Free
4. Public Domain

What are the questions pertaining to:

A. Producer rights/ CAT rights
B. Web-streaming/casting
C. Liability

1. What is constitutes Fair Use?

2. Who can use it and what can be used?

3. What, as far as music or videos uploaded or downloaded from the web, is considered to be in the Public Domain?

4. Are U.S. and International copyright laws the same? If so, which laws apply to music/videos on the web?

5. Is their liability involved in distributing (via cable or the internet) a production featuring a cover band? Is attribution enough? Who is liable, the station or the producer?

6.How is intellectual property protected?

7. Who maintains the rights to material posted on public sites,( including you tube and Facebook?

Dedra Leaf, Policy Committee Chair, CAT

Open Video Conference Link

Submitted by Sky Blaylock on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 12:22.

Here is a link which has much of the latest information regarding open use of the Internet and where we are going with that: http://openvideoconference.org/

I have also compiled some website links to the policies of other successful Access Centers in the country to find out what their approach is. I will bring copies and notes to the next Policy Committee meeting.

Thanks for all the excellent work on CAT's behalf! It does take a team.
-Sky

Sky Blaylock
Community Access Television
101 W. Rock Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 444-3433
"Community Building in the Digital Age"

New Policy For Consideration

Submitted by Dedra Leaf on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 12:54.

Policy Committee Report
July 15, 2009

Problems:

1. Promoting more video production
2. Quality of programming
3. Limits to what a producer can do with her/his product
4. Limits to CAT funding
5. Protecting producer rights over the product/copyright

Potential Policy Changes:

Denver Open Channel’s policy on Ownership and Use of Product/Media:
Unless otherwise noted, the service product/media being developed for this project will be considered work for hire, and thus the property of the Client. The product/media will be registered under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial, Attribution, Share-Alike License, meaning that the Client will retain unlimited copyright and exclusive permission to profit from the resulting product/media. Because it is the mission of the Company to produce content that is shared and distributed widely through non-commercial channels for educational purposes, this license allows the Company and any other entity to use the product/media for any use, provided the following three criteria are met: (1) the entity does not profit directly from the use of the product/media without written permission from and, if requested, adequate compensation to the client (2) the entity clearly credits the Client as owner of the product/media, and (3) any derivative works utilizing any content of the product/media are bound to an identical Creative Commons License. In addition, both the Client and the Company are granted perpetual use and modification rights for the product/media. The Client agrees to honor the existing license agreement for any media or software from third parties or from the public domain that may be incorporated into the product/media that they receive from the Company.

(i) Client also grants the Company unlimited permission to utilize and alter the resulting work for the limited purpose of: examples of past work, demo reels, and client lists.

Possible Conflicts:

1. City Contract
2. Policies regarding profit from the use of CAT equipment
3. NPO regulations

Questions:

Denver Open Channel

1. How long has this policy been in place and used?
2. Do the clients or personnel of Open Channel verify the licensing/copyright?
3. Have there been any problems or conflicts with the copyright policy since it has been in use?
4. How are clients held accountable if they find a market for their product/media?
5. In your contract with the City of Denver, who owns the equipment used by your clients?

City of Fayetteville Questions

1. Does the wording of this policy conflict in any way with our contract with the city or our status as an NPO?
2. If so, how? Would there need to be a change in wording for the CAT to be able to use it?

Please feel free to post questions or comments on this policy below. Be part of the discussion!
Dedra Leaf

Thanks.

Submitted by Sky Blaylock on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 13:27.

With Dedra's leadership on the CAT Board Policy Committee, the organization has tightened up the policies that we go by every day, the corporate documents have been audited by the legal clinic at the University of Arkansas and we just can't thank her enough for all the effort she puts into this work. It is important work.

So, thank you Dedra.

We hope to receive feedback on these ideas from users. Please let us know what you think.

Sky Blaylock
Community Access Television
101 W. Rock Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 444-3433
"Community Building in the Digital Age"

Answers to policy questions from Denver Open Media

Submitted by Sky Blaylock on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 15:05.

From: Tony Shawcross
Subject: Re: Questions from CAT
To: "Dedra Leaf"
Date: Monday, July 27, 2009, 1:40 PM

> 1. How long has this policy been in place and used?

3 years, with some modifications.

> 2. Do the clients or personnel of Open Channel verify the
> licensing/copyright?

no. We follow the guidance of the digital millenium copyright act and
only review or "verify" anything once it is flagged as a violation.
The process of Submitting a show includes Creative Commons
registration.

> 3. Have there been any problems or conflicts with the copyright policy since
> it has been in use?

> 4. How are clients held accountable if they find a market for their
> product/media?

I don't know what you are asking. They are free to sell their media.
They hold the copyright. The only restrictions are there can't be
commercial content (promotional commercials or such) and they must
register a creative commons license that ensures noncommercial uses
are permitted.

> 5. In your contract with the City of Denver, who owns the equipment used by
> your clients?

The city of Denver owns 95% of the equipment.

Tony Shawcross
Deproduction/Denver Open Media
700 Kalamath
Denver, CO 80204
720-222-0160 x200
http://deproduction.org

Thanks Everyone!
Sky Blaylock
Community Access Television
101 W. Rock Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 444-3433
"Community Building in the Digital Age"