The Caucus reports that FOX is sending legal notices out to Republican candidates over their use of debate footage and images in campaign ads on their web sites. Previously FOX had only targeted Senator John McCain.

Earlier in the year there was momentum from Democrats to keep debate footage copyright free and open to the public. That quickly died and since that point both parties have held their debates and forums with organizations that reserve copyright. That hasn’t stopped the candidates from posting clips of their favorite moments on YouTube.

In short, in some ways this is just deserts for the current and former Senators and Representatives running who have been a part of an institution that has made copyright almost endless. Ensuring that Mickey Mouse is kept safe for Disney but also that moving images, sounds and pictures that are important to the public interest are kept under lock and key.

It is silly for public figures running for office to allow corporations to keep the rights to footage that is vital to the public interest and could heavily influence or at the very least add to a voters perceptions and choices. It is asinine that these corporations not only run ads before and after the debates, but now run them during the debates as well, profiting off of public servants the night it airs and then reserving the right to profit again off the footage ad nauseam.

In my simple opinion no candidate should walk to a podium with the knowledge that the public will not be allowed to view and share their performance as often as they like. If like a traditional hypocrite they do and then turn around and put the footage on their own Web sites or in their ads, then frankly they should be sued into oblivion and face the nightmarish repercussions all copyright violators and file sharers do. Many of these people were the ones who made the laws, now they should have fun living with them like the rest of us do.