Thursday, May 12, 2005

BBC opens RSS content

(thanks to Lilian Edwards for the link). The BBC is now opening its RSS content for syndication. Web designers can now syndicate BBC content on their own websites with much less restrictions than before. If you wanted to add one of the many BBC feeds to your blog or website, you had to contact the BBC and obtain permission to do so. Now, feeds are being published with a new open licence that allows users to include the feeds without prior permission, as long as the website fulfills the following conditions:
- the site is not blacklisted by the BBC (porn, racism, terrorism);
- displays prominently that the content comes from the BBC;
- the content is not offered for a fee;
- provides a working link to the news item.

This is a novel open licence. Somehow akin to a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commerical licence, but with the added elements of linking and not allowing use in restricted sites. This serves as further evidence that the BBC is now one of the major players in the open licensing movement.

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