I signed on for this one.."Letters to RNC and DNC request all debate footage be put in public domain or licensed as “Creative Commons.". Here's the pdf* from L. Lessig....
The Politico picked it up and Ben Smith was correct when he said:
Along with Moulitsas and Malkin, signers include authors of the conservative Instapundit, and liberal sites the Huffington Post, MyDD, Americablog, Firedoglake, as well as the pioneering video site CrooksandLiars and the Internet and politics-oriented Personal Democracy Forum.
*fixed link
UPDATE: Barack Obama has sent out a press release supporting us. From the release:
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.
As has John Edwards. From his release:
Dear Messrs Walton, Moonves and Zucker, Mses. Sweeney and Kerger, and Dr. Dean:
Selecting a president is the most important responsibility Americans
have. In an age of 30-second ads, 7-second sound bites and media consolidation, making an informed decision is harder than ever.That is why I am asking each news network to make video footage from
the presidential debates that they broadcast available on the internet for the public to view and use responsibly. I am also asking Chairman Dean, who is playing a valuable role in organizing many of the Democratic primary debates, to use his influence with the networks to make the debates more broadly available.
