Creative Common VS. Common Courtesy

January 2, 2008 by pmelcher.

This video has surfaced on some blogs recently. Besides the fact that it is a brilliant presentation done by a man who certainly has incredible talent at public speaking, one should be aware that Larry lessing is not only chairs Creative Commons but is also founder of the Center For Internet and Society. ( A strong advocate for extended Fair use laws)

Look at this 20 minutes video and continue reading below:

Impressive, isn’t ? Makes you almost want to give away all your images in order to help your kids not become criminals. Like every well founded argumentation, it mixes emotions and feelings with what seems to be high level intellectual thoughts to make a point. Very sophistic. That point being that some content should be free to use for creative remixing.

Let’s analyze a bit. Lessing uses three very well done ( and funny, because that certainly helps put your guards down) video to demonstrate his point. If you have ever spend a little time on YouTube or other equivalent site, you would immediately know these are rare exceptions and not the rule. Furthermore, while very entertaining, no one really knows the purpose of these videos. Is this art ? are they fundamental to the existence of our society ? If they had never been made, would we miss them ? Lessing makes it sound like they are and should be.
His point is that copyright owners should be more open to sharing ( that means free), in order to let our kids create whole new content, “learn to sing again”, has he puts it.
Create yes, remix, yes, share their with friends, why not ? But make it public to the world ? mmm, why ? What is the benefit for the photographer when not even a credit is mentioned?
What is the reason behind this video ? Well, simple. For more people to use Creative Commons scheme. Why ?
For one, to break and dissolve the communications between users and creator. There is absolutely no reason why someone who would like to use an image for free in a remix should not contact the owner of the image to ask for permission. It is called Common Courtesy. Creative Commons wants to replace that dialogs with their proprietary licensing model.
Why ? simple. They want to become the gateway for all licenses on the internet, including the paying ones. It is something I mentioned in a previous post. It is all about control.
Don’t take this wrong. I am all for sharing and helping creativity. I do not particularity like to give images for free but have done so and will continue as long as their is a compelling reason.
What I am against is the very wealthy and combative Creative Common and Electronic Frontier Foundation that are trying to take control of the raising mass of UGC by guiding them towards the belief that sharing is better than licensing.
With enough support from the masses, and with the help of the RIAA, they will be able to change the copyright laws with no input from professionals. It is not Getty, Corbis nor the microstock who are threatening your business these days, it these San Fransisco rich kids who are. They will be the ones who will force photographers and agencies to open up their archives for free internet sharing.I say, let’s re-introduce Common Courtesy in usage and have anyone who wish to use an image, even for free, simply ask for permission. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in prosumer, web 2.0, license, copyright, filter, editorial, corbis, news, law, getty | Print | No Comments »