Michael casey weighs in on events and developments concerning the Creative Commons. Don’t miss the whole post:
http://librarycrunch.com/?p=37
Watching all of this has forced me to conclude that I don’t particularly care for the Creative Commons license right now. I think I’ll either need to claim full copyright on my works, or I’ll do what Lori Reed and Tony Tallent have started doing, which is to permit full and free use of some of my works — I’ll have to do this on an image-by-image basis as there are many photos that I do not want reposted or reused.
By claiming full copyright I require any re-users to ask me before proceeding. That way I’ll know who is using my photos and how they are being used, yet I will still be able to permit reuse. I come to this conclusion because I see a lot of images out there with CC licenses but I also see a lot of complaints about use — “you didn’t attribute it to me” or “you didn’t attribute it properly”.
I’m not so sold on this middle ground of Creative Commons anymore, which is frustrating because I really had high hopes for it as an alternative to straight copyright. I think CC creates a murky legal middle that seems designed to give flexibility but ends up creating confusion. If I want credit for a work then I will permit reuse under current copyright law but require attribution as I decide fit — you ask me and I say yes and here’s how… If I want it to be usable byanyone then I make it public domain and I don’t have the right to come back and say “but you didn’t stroke me enough with a great big bold attribution”.