Creative Commons (CC) is celebrating ten years of helping writers, artists, technologists, and other creators share their knowledge and creativity with the world. CC provides free, public, and standardized licenses that allow creators to share their material with others and help create a balance between the open nature of public domain (e.g., the Internet) and copyright laws. The first CC licenses were issued in December 2002, and they now number in the millions. For example, governments and libraries make their information available to the public using CC tools. YouTube now has over four million videos available under Creative Commons, allowing everyone to use, remix, and edit them.
A strong push for copyright reform is currently occurring around the world—coming both from the increased recognition of public/user rights as well as the need for author protection. Creative Commons and the free culture movement envision a new world in which partnership premised on shared benefits replaces the false battle between self-interest and community. To imitate or steal an idea is one thing, but to transform or remix content, while crediting its originator, is something new and completely different. Collaboration is the center of community, and CC tools offer a major step toward a more collaborative and abundant world.
Censored #17
The Creative Commons Celebrates Ten Years of Sharing and Cultural Creation
Paul M. Davis, “Creative Commons Celebrates 10 Years of Opening Culture,” Shareable, December 7, 2012, http://www.shareable.net/blog/creative-commons-celebrates-10-years-of-opening-culture.
Jason Hibbets, “Celebrating 10 Years of Creative Commons,” opensource.com, November 29, 2012, http://opensource.com/law/12/11/celebrating-ten-years-creative-commons.
Timothy Vollmer, “Pallante’s Push for U.S. Copyright Reform,” Creative Commons News, March 20, 2013, http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37576.
Student Researcher: Nicholas Lanoil (San Francisco State University)
Faculty Evaluator: Kenn Burrows (San Francisco State University)