Require films and shows released only by streaming to be deposited in public archives so future generations can see them
Steps to make it happen
- Countries make a rule that streaming services must deposit each film and show they make in a public archive.
- Services hand over the best-quality original files, along with the subtitle and sound files.
- Even after a title leaves the streaming service and can no longer be watched there, the archive keeps its files safe and does not delete them.
- Archives let researchers and teachers watch the works inside the archive building.
- Countries that lack money or equipment share archives with a few other countries.
- When the period of protection ends, the archive opens the work so that anyone can watch it.
- Decades later, it is normal to be able to watch old streaming titles again.
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The proposal in detail
This proposal calls for films, dramas, documentaries and other works that were released only through internet streaming, with no theater showings and no disc sales, to be deposited in public film and video archives. The rule covers works that streaming companies made themselves or stream exclusively, as long as they were released as commercial works on a certain scale. Videos that individuals post as a hobby and works by small creators are accepted only if the creator wants that. What must be deposited is the high-quality original data from before it is compressed for streaming, subtitles and dubbed audio in every language, audio description for people who are blind or have low vision, and records such as the names of the cast and crew and the release date. Works must be deposited within a set period after release. Companies that stream across borders only need to deposit once, at the contact point set for each region where they stream, and archives in different places make agreements among themselves to avoid duplicating work. Depositing a work does not transfer the copyright to the archive. While the rights last, viewing is limited to research and education, on dedicated terminals inside the archive or over closed networks. Works whose rights have expired, or whose rights holders cannot be found for a long time, can be shown more widely under the rules of each society. For works where the safety of sources or personal privacy must be protected, sealing them for a set number of years is allowed. The cost of preservation is shared between the companies and public bodies, and the data is encrypted and tightly controlled.
BenefitsThe record of an era can be passed on to future people instead of being erased
The biggest benefit is that it reduces the danger that the video culture of our time could vanish entirely because of a single business decision by one company. If people a hundred years from now want to know what stories our society enjoyed and what problems troubled it, and streaming works have not been kept, there will be a large gap. Researchers and students can be sure of having material for studying film history and social change, and teachers can use past works as teaching material in class. For the actors, directors and crew who worked on a title, having a record of their work kept matters, both as proof of their careers and as a source of pride. Keeping subtitles and dubbing together with the work also records the history of translation, that is, how a work was carried over into other languages and cultures. Moreover, if works whose rights have expired can be opened widely, they become a shared treasure of humanity for new creation and learning. We can avoid repeating, in the digital age, the regret we feel over lost films.
DrawbacksThe risk of handing over valuable originals, and a heavy cost
The concern that opponents take most seriously is that the high-quality original data, which is the heart of a work's value, must be handed to an outside body. If it leaked from an archive even once, illegal copies could spread around the world and seriously hurt the income of creators and performers. No matter how strict the promised controls are, that risk cannot be reduced to zero. The number of works also grows every year, and the cost of storing high-quality data for a long time and moving it to new formats so it does not become outdated is enormous. If the burden on companies becomes heavy, they may invest less in making new works. On the public side too, countries with money and technology and countries without them differ greatly in their ability to preserve, so the gap in cultural records could widen instead. In addition, some creators and performers do not want their works kept in the world, because the expressions no longer suit the times or because of personal circumstances. We also cannot ignore the worry that a state gathering videos in one place could someday use it to watch over or put pressure on expression.
Learn the background
In the little more than a hundred years since film was invented, many early films have been lost. Film burns easily and is easily damaged, so it was thrown away or left to decay without proper storage. Learning from this, many societies have set up systems for depositing works with public bodies, and archives for moving images. But now the way video is made and delivered has changed greatly. Streaming services make many works every year, and many of them never come out on disc and are released only by streaming. Then, because of the end of a contract, taxes or costs, or a company leaving the business, there are cases where streaming suddenly ends one day and the work can no longer be seen anywhere. Older systems for depositing and preserving works mostly assume physical things such as books, film and discs, so works that exist only as streams easily fall through the gaps. Digital data seems as if it would last forever, but if the storage format becomes outdated or the company that looks after it disappears, it can be lost even faster than paper or film. Works are also records that reflect the lives and values of people in their time.
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This proposal was written in Japanese by AI (claude-opus-5-5, policy version 2026-10-15d) and translated by AI (claude-sonnet-5-5). Nobody has checked the facts. Read the original (日本語) How the AI writes