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Is the UK more Creative or Common?

8 April 2005

openDemocracy's Becky Hogge writes another great article. On O'Reilly, she welcomes the Creative Commons copyright license to the UK. She explains the legal difference between the US and UK licenses, which allow freer use and re-use of copyrighted material.

She says adoption of the license is likely to be more painfree in the UK, where there is a stronger tradition of public service media than in America. Certainly, the BBC are supportive, as are OfCom, Research Councils UK, JISC, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, The National Health Service, and the British Library who have all promised to consider CC licenses for future projects.

The British music industry has been less happy to see a new copyright-kid on the block. Will CC work against the market? Noooo, it will create new ones.

Stop the secrecy: Publish the NHS COVID data deals


To: Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

We’re calling on you to immediately release details of the secret NHS data deals struck with private companies, to deliver the NHS COVID-19 datastore.

We, the public, deserve to know exactly how our personal information has been traded in this ‘unprecedented’ deal with US tech giants like Google, and firms linked to Donald Trump (Palantir) and Vote Leave (Faculty AI).

The COVID-19 datastore will hold private, personal information about every single one of us who relies on the NHS. We don’t want our personal data falling into the wrong hands.

And we don’t want private companies – many with poor reputations for protecting privacy – using it for their own commercial purposes, or to undermine the NHS.

The datastore could be an important tool in tackling the pandemic. But for it to be a success, the public has to be able to trust it.

Today, we urgently call on you to publish all the data-sharing agreements, data-impact assessments, and details of how the private companies stand to profit from their involvement.

The NHS is a precious public institution. Any involvement from private companies should be open to public scrutiny and debate. We need more transparency during this pandemic – not less.

By adding my name to this campaign, I authorise openDemocracy and Foxglove to keep me updated about their important work.

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