A simple change in the law could open up online access to the BBC's archives

 

Just came across this news item.. 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/nov/25/bbc-archive-online-access-law

 

"A simple change in the law could open up online access to the BBC's archives:
The cost of clearing rights to a treasure trove of programming is prohibitive, but a short enabling bill could put that right"

Excerpt:
"After running a pilot project to clear the rights for 1,000 hours of archive programming for online use, the BBC calculated it would take 800 people three years of full-time work to clear the rights to its archive, assuming that all rights owners could be found and that every one was prepared to grant the rights."

There's a very long discussion posted underneath - many of the contributors are photographers, some of whom seem to be in the powerful lobbying group stop43:

 

http://www.stop43.org.uk/ which has a detailed website explaining their position on orphan works, why it's against ECL and what it wants instead.