RIAA's gonna cry yeah?

June 23, 2006 3:25 AM

Today might be a good day to look at the bright side of 'teh internet' life. Lawrence Lessig (author of Free Culture), Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), various advocates of the Free Culture network organisation and others are all meeting at the iCommons Summit in Rio to discuss Creative Commons, open networks, non-restrictives licenses, global Digital Commons and the fact that maybe, in 2006, 'Sharing is Daring'. A similar summit has been taking place earlier this month in Thailand, under the name of Asia Commons. I for one thinks it's extremely exciting to see all kind of artists, collectives and record labels using the CC licenses for the work they publish. After all, we now all live in a 'Remixed Culture', since everything we ever use was once part of something else, wasn't it? openDemocracy has been publishing a solid set of articles & a debate about the topic.
posted by Sijeka (13 comments total)

And previously on mefi:

Creative Commons launch

CC and marketdroids? WTF?

posted by Sijeka at 3:27 AM on June 23, 2006

Excellent topic and for myself excellent post. This makes me smile as I sit in the dark listening to The Bob Sneider & Joe Locke Film Noir Project...

Merci...
posted by Unregistered User at 3:38 AM on June 23, 2006

Awesome post. I wholeheartedly support and use Creative Commons.

I love that I can publish my artwork and music on the web and elsewhere with implicit permission for the end user and viewer to print, remix and otherwise alter it for non-commercial use.

Thanks to everyone in the movement for your foresight, deftness and audacious daftness. Cheers.
posted by loquacious at 5:06 AM on June 23, 2006

Mind you this article raises some good questions, and is suspicious of CC's future.
posted by Sijeka at 5:37 AM on June 23, 2006

And "...since everything we ever use was once part of something else..." is a spiritual rather than a factual statement.
posted by twsf at 5:47 AM on June 23, 2006

But how rare iis it to come across an idea, concept or work of art that is truly, purely, unaltered and new?
posted by Sijeka at 6:04 AM on June 23, 2006

But how rare iis it to come across an idea, concept or work of art that is truly, purely, unaltered and new?

All rights reserved!
posted by foot at 6:16 AM on June 23, 2006

But foot, I've seen pictures similar to this one - using the same techniques- countless times, even if the work itself is original and unique...
posted by Sijeka at 6:26 AM on June 23, 2006

Very interesting post. Not something I know too much about but certainly something to read up on. Thanks.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 6:27 AM on June 23, 2006

Which of these links allow me to rationalize downloading movies on bittorrent?
posted by Pastabagel at 6:37 AM on June 23, 2006

After all, we now all live in a 'Remixed Culture', since everything we ever use was once part of something else, wasn't it?

This implies that because everything is derivative, all derivative works should be legal. I'd say there's a reasonable argument to be made that creating a work of art is itself sufficient contribution back to the commons from which the work was derived. But the value of artistic work is subjective, so there's no clear answer as to what the creator of a work owes to the commons. In some cases, it could be nothing. In others, everything. That's why we have a variety of licenses, some very open, some very closed, and some in between. The idea that open licenses are intrinsically good is an important counter to the idea that closed licenses are intrinsically good, but it is no less a statement of faith.
posted by scottreynen at 8:43 AM on June 23, 2006

I don't see why you, and other CC advocates, mix the whole Creative Commons fight with toppling the RIAA. These are two different fights, and CC diminishes itself by making itself a fight against "the big evil corporations".

This is like the GPL all over again. The purpose of CC shouldn't be to kill the RIAA, anymore than the purpose of the GPL should be to kill Microsoft. Less silly people in hazmat suits, more music.
posted by zabuni at 8:46 AM on June 23, 2006

Can somebody remind me why these conferences are always in some out-of-the-way place? Why not... San Jose?
posted by msittig at 8:49 PM on June 25, 2006