CSC 379:Week 2, Group 4

Creative Commons

Discussion Questions

• Should groups like media outlets who desire their content to be shared adopt licenses like creative commons to clarify and garantee the protections they want to extend to the public?

• What ethical advantages and disadvantages are there for adopting Creative Commons licenses? What obstacles exist towards the adoption of Creative Commons licenses within the business community?

• Copyright law differs between countries. Creative Commons has licenses that can be adapted to be compatible with the laws of many nations. What ethical considerations are there to a system of international copyright laws and/or agreements? Are licenses like Creative Commons viable alternatives to international agreements?

Answers

International Creative Commons

International copyrights systems have several complicated ethical issues to challenge. This is true because of the cultural diversity that the world has; however, today world's drive for globalization are making it both easier and necessary to deal with copyright issues but establishing standards and agreements. It is a common belief that what a man creates on his own as a result of his own labor is his own and he is free to do whatever he wants with it limited only to the point to which his society or community lets him. So identifying the guidelines to which each society abides to give rights to the owner of a good, is a crucial step to find a consensus among communities.

Creative commons is a tool designed to increase number of creative material online and to make cheaper and easier to access. Creative commons could be a good alternative to international agreements, since it aims for the practice of "some rights" reserved, instead of "all rights" reserved. This practice, and the fact that is voluntary, makes it easier to reach a consensus among countries, because of its flexibility. However, creative commons would be an alternative that will be mostly limited to creative material such as websites, scholarships, music, film, photography, etc. as this is what it was designed for. iCommons is a Creative Commons supported organization whose aim is to develop a united global commons front through the collaboration with education, access to knowledge, free software, open access publishing and free culture communities around the world. This organization sets an example of some of the project that can be launched internationally through the use of creative commons.