[Microbit-Python] Making this list public

[Michael]

On 22 October 2015 at 12:30, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:

> When I was a jobbing freelance musician doing work for the BBC I
> basically signed away all my rights to anything I did, for ever.
>

Yep - they've learnt an awful lot from the transition from analogue media of
the pre-90's into digital media from the 90's onwards (well, CD's onwards).
My contract is even more rights grabby (which you'd expect) - but means
that sometimes I make sure people are aware of personal home projects
before they get released, or release them before they're even vaguely
useful or usable. (such as pyxie)


> I guess this thread just confirms that IP is bonkers.
>

More bonkers than most people think. It's why I try to stay abreast of any
open
sourcing discussions at the BBC...


> Don't the BBC keep records of this sort of thing..?
>

Yes - *amazingly* detailed - especially for anything "recent" in BBC terms.
(think past 10-20 years at least) The project I referred as a rights
database is actually called P4A, and I can't remember what the 4 P's stand
for, nor the A, but I do know that a single programme can have *incredibly*
detailed rights info. (Down to "in order to use segment from 20 mins 30s to
20 mins 32 seconds, phone this number and ask for...")

Retrieval of information from the 70's and 80's (remember the computer
literacy project started in the 70's - the BBC micro was a relatively late
addition) can be incredibly difficult. Especially if people at the time
didn't think a piece of information important, and it's not been important
for a long time after (due to the logo not representing an active "thing").

You have to remember after all, in the 70's they were still at the stage
where they would record over tapes of TV programmes of the era. It was a
different era in many regards. (Back then the idea that the programmes
would ever be watched more than once or twice was inconceivable)

(The requirement for the BBC to maintain archives for example was added to
charters *after* the sort of time period we're talking about, before that
they were best practice, and maintained what people though would be
important.)

Anyway, enough silliness. :-)


Michael.
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