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 participants noted that open access conversations are now harder with COVID-19. By relying on legacy work undertaken by previous staff, some staff have been able to hold ground against suggestions to withdraw assets and adopt a more commercially minded approach. Some participants mentioned that conversations on adopting more permissive licences have lost momentum. Even participants from open GLAMs noted having to re-defend the position on occasion due to revived commercialisation desires.

Web-based research revealed a few GLAMs are walking back on open access activity. To support this finding, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine was used to investigate engagement with Flickr Commons. As shown in the table on the following page, The National Archives, the National Science and Media Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich have removed assets from the Commons.

To illustrate, The National Archives hosted at least 213 images in the photostream in March 2010, the earliest date of capture on the Internet Archive. Over the years, the total asset volume grew to at least 20,050 photos in March 2020. The overwhelming majority have since been removed. Today, the account hosts 56 assets.

These and other examples provided by participants reveal assets are being removed to bolster exclusivity and commercialisation goals. GLAMS are aware they cannot revoke open licences and tools, like Creative Commons. Instead, removing access to the asset re-secures the exclusivity perceived to be necessary for commercialisation.

A Culture of Copyright