Video Script

I’m Struan Bartlett and I’m chief executive of NewsNow, the founding sponsor of the Right2Link Campaign.

The Right2Link campaign has been established to make you aware of a threat to something you probably take for granted when you use the Internet.

How many times have you seen something interesting on the internet and sent the link to a friend or colleague? Or received a link, and clicked on it? It’s a normal thing to do – and well within your rights, you’d think.

In October, I wrote an Open Letter to a number of major media organisations because some of them have threatened to try to end YOUR freedom to link to pages on their websites. They are arguing that you need their permission. The basis of their threats has been vague. But it’s worrying some who feel they may be forced to pay for something they believe they have a right to.

But why should anyone be forced to pay for linking to freely available content? In a society where global e-communication is the norm, the right to link is fundamental to freedom of speech, to freedom of communication, to a free Press and to academic freedom. If you cannot link, or create links freely, it means someone else is controlling your access to information and your ability to communicate.

Linking is a common public amenity. You wouldn’t pay to read a signpost. So why would some media organisations want to control the signposts to their website? To be absolutely clear, the copyright and intellectual property of media corporations is not in question and should be respected.

But links are NOT their intellectual property. Linking is not some kind of digital theft. Circulating a headline that flags up a link is NOT substantial reproduction of a newspaper’s intellectual property – so it’s perfectly legitimate fair use.

Now some media owners seem to be cherry picking organisations to target, accusing them of copyright theft, or demanding cash. Those targeted, include search engines like Google, NewsNow and Yahoo and organisations who routinely monitor the internet for news – not only companies but also charities and even public sector bodies like the NHS.

Media owners may claim that because they have granted you, as a private user, permission to link, you are unaffected. But how can you be sure you have permission to use a site, and why should you need permission in the first place? This is the thin end of the wedge. If you can equate linking with stealing content, then everyone is a potential thief.

Your right and ability to find news and share links to it via social networks, blogs, search engines and link aggregators – is threatened.  If media organisations can control links, they can make deals with search engines that guide you only to their stories, their opinions, their advertising and the products and services of their associated companies! An internet of “walled garden” searches. You may not foot the bill directly. But you will pay a price: transparency and your open access to information will suffer.

If anybody could curb the right to link freely, it would seriously damage the ease of access to digital information that drives the economy today. It would undermine the free flow of public information and restrict what people can know, and not know. That would see your right and ability to find, access and communicate information severely compromised.

Whether you are a blogger, an independent researcher, a concerned citizen, or a business, your right to link needs protection. That is why we are sponsoring the Right2Link Campaign. Visit the site, get the facts and take action to protect your rights.