Week 8 - Response to Content

Creative Commons - political movement and practical tool

Creative Commons is said to be a reactionary movement stemming from the fact that copyright (at least in the U.S) is so widespread as to stifle the progress of science and the arts, rather than promoting it (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.346). Over the past 40 years the law has changed so dramatically as to render the 'rip, mix, burn' phenomenon illegal, which began with incidences such as the court ruling in 1971 which stated Bobby London & Danny O'Neill's critical view of Mickey Mouse in Air Pirates, is illegal (Lessig 2004, p.3-4). This highlights one of the biggest problems - the difficulty today in obtaining a license to legally use a small component of someone else's work, such as a composer who wishes to use a small segment of a musical composition in an original piece (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.347).

Technology has created the "digital consumer" ( Lessig 2004, p.2), who is an active programmer, compared to the analog consumer, who is "passive, programmed and broadcast to" (Lessig 2004, p.2).

As a result CC provides an alternative mode of copyright which isn't as restrictive as the current model, whereby the creator/author of the content decides what is to be done with it, and spreads their creativity around, rather than receiving it via broadcasts from a select few. But before we get caught up in this romanticised spiel, what could possibly be a disadvantage? Well considering most users are not well-versed in the law, it may not be as simple as CC desires Furthermore there's the issue of once the contributor has picked a license and later on sees her particular piece in a way she did not intend, is it possible to change the license or even retract it from the database? (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.362). Either way, I'm sure as Creative Commons develops these issues will be resolved and  more clarity in the expression of license agreements will be adopted.

Reference List:

Lessig, L 2004, 'The creative commons: for the common good?', Montana Law Review, vol. 65, no. 1, pp.1-14, viewed 17th September 2011 via HeinOnline

Forsythe, L and Kemp, D 2009, 'Creative Commons', University of La Verne Law Review, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 346-369, viewed 17th September 2011 via HeinOnline.