In a rapidly changing world where information is easily accessible, authors and artists strive to find a method to release their work for all to see. Depending on the needs and wishes of the creator, the work can be published under a variety of licenses, each protecting a different set of values than the next. The most popular methods of licensing work for public use are Creative Commons, GNU GPL, and U.S. Copyright.
Creative Commons is not defined to be a single license, but instead an array of licenses allowing users to customize the amount of liberality and protection they wish their work to hold.
These works include: books, scripts, websites, lesson plans, blogs, any form of writing, images, video, video games, any form of visual material, compositions, recordings, and any form of audio.
Although a wide range of media is considered to be coverable, only tangible items are concerned with. For instance, intangible items, such as ideas and facts, are not covered. Although software is technically tangible in a digital sense, any license from Creative Commons is discouraged for use in this situation. Instead, Creative Commons recommends use of the GNU GPL or similar liberal documents. However, it does support the protection of documentation that is included with the software.
There are six similar licenses, but each differs in one major aspect. The most liberal of the six is named Attribution, or "by" for short. It essentially allows any changes to be made to the original work, also allowing redistribution either commercially or non-commercially as long as the original author is fully credited. The next license (Attribution Share Alike or "by-sa") follows suit in all characteristics but one; if derivative work (any changes made to the original) is to be released, it must be under the same Creative Commons license as the initial. Taking it a step further is Attribution No Derivatives ("by-nd") which allows commercial or noncommercial redistribution (as long as the original author is credited), but modifications to the licensed work is disallowed. A trend can be seen, where each consecutive license restricts another liberty. The fourth, fifth, and sixth licenses are comparable to the first, second, and third, but they only permit redistribution of the original work through noncommercial means. Attribution Noncommercial ("by-nc") allows for any modifications to be made to the original work, but credit must be given to the author. Predictably, the terms of Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike ("by-nc-sa") are identical to that of the following, but all derivative work is restricted to be released under this same license. Finally, the most restrictive license, Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives ("by-nc-nd"), only permits the work to be redistributed with credit to the original author. Restricting all derivative work, this license is commonly referred to as "free advertising" (Frequently Asked Questions). Numerous independent projects have chosen to use Creative Commons as their main source of licensing because of its powerful, yet flexible abilities. Flickr, a company derived from the Yahoo! search engine, hosts over 59 million image files for free download. Ranked as the 38th most-visited website in the world according to Alexa.com, Flickr provides tens of millions of Creative Commons-licensed images available through a dedicated sub-section of the site. Another project committed to Creative Commons is the IntraText Digital Library, offering about 12 million pages of documents in forty languages.
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), written by the organization that assists in the development of the Linux operating system, ensures that the software released under it remains free for all to utilize. GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix"; Unix is one of the first computer operating systems, developed by AT&T in 1969. The organization declares "To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer" (The Free Software Definition). Unlike Creative Commons or U.S. Copyright, the GNU GPL is specifically designed for computer software and its source code. Computer software is first written in a human-readable format in order to simplify the task for the programmer. It is then "compiled" into a machine-readable format for execution on users' computers. Fully aware of these mechanics, the GNU GPL is purposely designed to disregard all types of media besides such digital works in order to assure that flexibility of the license won't interfere with protecting its users' rights. Although the license may be intricate and cover numerous aspects in a constantly-changing electronic world, it still holds true to its main ideal: "Nobody should be restricted by the software they use" (A Quick Guide to GPLv3). A list of four freedoms are ensured at all times while issued under the license; all people are able to use the software or code for any purpose they desire, are able to share and distribute the software or code freely with whomever they choose to, are able to change and alter the software or code in whichever fashion they wish to, and are able to publish and distribute any changes or modifications they may have made. The term "open source" is commonly used to describe a project or piece of work that follows suit with the values of the GNU GPL (or similar licenses). Ultimately, the GNU GPL doesn't restrict its users but merely ensures that they cannot be restricted. The latest version of the license is Version 3, commonly known as GPLv3. The key updates from Version 2 are added protections against "tivoization," DRM, and discriminatory patent deals. "Tivoization," a term coined by GNU, describes the circumstance where a company may sell or distribute a device that runs software under the GNU GPL license but restricts any modification to it by specially producing the hardware to disallow tampering. This does not concern warranty and voiding such, but instead addresses the violation of freedoms one and three. Any device that is able to run software or code is considered to be a computer and should be under the control of the owner. Digital Rights Management, commonly referred to as DRM, is special code that is appended to software and files in general to restrict its usage. Violating freedoms 1 and 2, DRM is more common than you may think. All music downloads from the popular media network known as iTunes are coated in a version of DRM known as FairPlay. This array of management will essentially control your music purchase, restricting the file to only be played on specified computers and only be burned to CD a number of times. "You paid for the music. Who is Apple to tell you where you can and can't stick it?" (The Battle Over Music Piracy). The GNU organization thinks similarly. Third, the updated license guards users against discriminatory patent deals. An example of such is that Microsoft, famous for its popular operating system Windows, has been attempting to collect money from the distribution and use of free software. The company believes that some of this software may be infringing on Microsoft patents but has agreed to withhold all legal action under one condition: downloading this free software from sources that pay Microsoft for the right to distribute it. Such a deal is considered to be obscene (where a company may be offering free software but collects royalties in its distribution). The GNU GPL is very famous on the Internet, because most large open source projects are released under it. Perhaps the most popular and well-known piece of work to be released under the GNU GPL is the Linux operating system. Conceived in the 1960s by Linus Torvalds, the GNU organization adopted the Linux project, providing funds and a knowledgeable community to support it. The GNU endowed the project with such a large amount of aid, that Torvalds said "If the GNU kernel had been ready last spring, I'd not have bothered to even start my project" (Linus vs. Tanenbaum). Therefore, the full package was provided for the operating system that runs 12.7% of servers in the world: an incredible amount of development and a license to release it under, the GNU GPL.
The most commonly-used license available is the standard United States Copyright, which protects work for commercial purposes and strictly-moderated distribution. An array of media similar to that of Creative Commons is covered by Copyright. A long list of literary works; musical works (and lyrics); dramatic works (and accompanying music); pantomimes and choreographical works; pictorial, graphical, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; audio; and architectural works are included and are to be interpreted broadly. For example, computer software and its respective source code is to be understood as a literary work. Also similar to Creative Commons, U.S. Copyright does not extend its coverage to intangible works, such as ideas, methods, discoveries, title and phrases, and common property (calendars or measuring devices). The purpose of Copyright is to give the original owner the right to reproduce the work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies and reproductions to the public commercially, and to display the work publically. Unlike licenses that provide more liberal terms, the work can only be distributed for a profit. Others may obtain the right to distribute and redistribute only through authorization from the original author. Most music and movies today are protected under copyright (hence the large debate over illegal and pirate media), yet a recent argument aroused by music fans is whether or not releasing songs under Copyright is effective at all. Recently, the band Radiohead (a chart-topping group from the United Kingdom) released their latest album In Rainbows for free on their website. Band manager Bryce Edge says "We're prepared to take a risk and we might come out looking very foolish. But we believe if your music is great, then people will pay for it" (Radiohead album set free on web). Relying on donations from listeners, the album was downloaded 1.2 million times, and the band raised a remarkable 10 million dollars within the first week. Kristen Nicole, a journalist for Mashable.com, reports "The number of albums sold in the past week exceeded the launch week sales of its three previous albums combined." Copyright has many legitimate uses, where the holder wishes to ensure a profit and prohibit any derivative works, but users of the work are at disadvantage.
There are numerous licenses available for work to be released under, and the three most popular have been discussed. Different levels of liberality are provided by different licenses, and depending on the genre of the work and the author's intentions, one license may be preferred over the other.
Works Cited
"A Quick Guide to GPLv3 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." 13 January 2008. GNU. 2 May 2008 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html>.
"Copyright Office Basics." July 2006. Copyright. 6 May 2008 <http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html>.
"The Free Software Definition - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." 13 January 2008. GNU. 2 May 2008 <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>.
Grossman, Lev. "The Battle Over Music Piracy." 24 May 2007. TIME Magazine. 25 May 2008 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625209,00.html>.
"Linus vs. Tanenbaum." 6 February 1992. GNU's Not Unix. 25 May 2008 <http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/Linus_vs_Tanenbaum.html>.
"Radiohead album set free on web." 10 October 2007. BBC News. 25 May 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7037219.stm>.
Works Consulted
"flickr.com - Traffic Details from Alexa." 24 May 2008. Alexa: The Web Information Company. 24 May 2008 <http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/flickr.com>.
"Frequently Asked Questions." 14 February 2008. Creative Commons. 29 April 2008 <http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ>.
Nicole, Kristen. "Radiohead Kicks the Middleman to the Curb: 1 Week, 1.2M Albums Sold." 19 October 2007. Mashable: Social Networking News. 23 May 2008 <http://mashable.com/2007/10/19/radiohead-album-sales/>.
Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Linux server market share keeps growing." 29 May 2007. Linux-Watch. 24 May 2008 <http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5369154346.html>.
Creative Commons is not defined to be a single license, but instead an array of licenses allowing users to customize the amount of liberality and protection they wish their work to hold.
These works include: books, scripts, websites, lesson plans, blogs, any form of writing, images, video, video games, any form of visual material, compositions, recordings, and any form of audio.
Although a wide range of media is considered to be coverable, only tangible items are concerned with. For instance, intangible items, such as ideas and facts, are not covered. Although software is technically tangible in a digital sense, any license from Creative Commons is discouraged for use in this situation. Instead, Creative Commons recommends use of the GNU GPL or similar liberal documents. However, it does support the protection of documentation that is included with the software.
There are six similar licenses, but each differs in one major aspect. The most liberal of the six is named Attribution, or "by" for short. It essentially allows any changes to be made to the original work, also allowing redistribution either commercially or non-commercially as long as the original author is fully credited. The next license (Attribution Share Alike or "by-sa") follows suit in all characteristics but one; if derivative work (any changes made to the original) is to be released, it must be under the same Creative Commons license as the initial. Taking it a step further is Attribution No Derivatives ("by-nd") which allows commercial or noncommercial redistribution (as long as the original author is credited), but modifications to the licensed work is disallowed. A trend can be seen, where each consecutive license restricts another liberty. The fourth, fifth, and sixth licenses are comparable to the first, second, and third, but they only permit redistribution of the original work through noncommercial means. Attribution Noncommercial ("by-nc") allows for any modifications to be made to the original work, but credit must be given to the author. Predictably, the terms of Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike ("by-nc-sa") are identical to that of the following, but all derivative work is restricted to be released under this same license. Finally, the most restrictive license, Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives ("by-nc-nd"), only permits the work to be redistributed with credit to the original author. Restricting all derivative work, this license is commonly referred to as "free advertising" (Frequently Asked Questions). Numerous independent projects have chosen to use Creative Commons as their main source of licensing because of its powerful, yet flexible abilities. Flickr, a company derived from the Yahoo! search engine, hosts over 59 million image files for free download. Ranked as the 38th most-visited website in the world according to Alexa.com, Flickr provides tens of millions of Creative Commons-licensed images available through a dedicated sub-section of the site. Another project committed to Creative Commons is the IntraText Digital Library, offering about 12 million pages of documents in forty languages.
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), written by the organization that assists in the development of the Linux operating system, ensures that the software released under it remains free for all to utilize. GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix"; Unix is one of the first computer operating systems, developed by AT&T in 1969. The organization declares "To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer" (The Free Software Definition). Unlike Creative Commons or U.S. Copyright, the GNU GPL is specifically designed for computer software and its source code. Computer software is first written in a human-readable format in order to simplify the task for the programmer. It is then "compiled" into a machine-readable format for execution on users' computers. Fully aware of these mechanics, the GNU GPL is purposely designed to disregard all types of media besides such digital works in order to assure that flexibility of the license won't interfere with protecting its users' rights. Although the license may be intricate and cover numerous aspects in a constantly-changing electronic world, it still holds true to its main ideal: "Nobody should be restricted by the software they use" (A Quick Guide to GPLv3). A list of four freedoms are ensured at all times while issued under the license; all people are able to use the software or code for any purpose they desire, are able to share and distribute the software or code freely with whomever they choose to, are able to change and alter the software or code in whichever fashion they wish to, and are able to publish and distribute any changes or modifications they may have made. The term "open source" is commonly used to describe a project or piece of work that follows suit with the values of the GNU GPL (or similar licenses). Ultimately, the GNU GPL doesn't restrict its users but merely ensures that they cannot be restricted. The latest version of the license is Version 3, commonly known as GPLv3. The key updates from Version 2 are added protections against "tivoization," DRM, and discriminatory patent deals. "Tivoization," a term coined by GNU, describes the circumstance where a company may sell or distribute a device that runs software under the GNU GPL license but restricts any modification to it by specially producing the hardware to disallow tampering. This does not concern warranty and voiding such, but instead addresses the violation of freedoms one and three. Any device that is able to run software or code is considered to be a computer and should be under the control of the owner. Digital Rights Management, commonly referred to as DRM, is special code that is appended to software and files in general to restrict its usage. Violating freedoms 1 and 2, DRM is more common than you may think. All music downloads from the popular media network known as iTunes are coated in a version of DRM known as FairPlay. This array of management will essentially control your music purchase, restricting the file to only be played on specified computers and only be burned to CD a number of times. "You paid for the music. Who is Apple to tell you where you can and can't stick it?" (The Battle Over Music Piracy). The GNU organization thinks similarly. Third, the updated license guards users against discriminatory patent deals. An example of such is that Microsoft, famous for its popular operating system Windows, has been attempting to collect money from the distribution and use of free software. The company believes that some of this software may be infringing on Microsoft patents but has agreed to withhold all legal action under one condition: downloading this free software from sources that pay Microsoft for the right to distribute it. Such a deal is considered to be obscene (where a company may be offering free software but collects royalties in its distribution). The GNU GPL is very famous on the Internet, because most large open source projects are released under it. Perhaps the most popular and well-known piece of work to be released under the GNU GPL is the Linux operating system. Conceived in the 1960s by Linus Torvalds, the GNU organization adopted the Linux project, providing funds and a knowledgeable community to support it. The GNU endowed the project with such a large amount of aid, that Torvalds said "If the GNU kernel had been ready last spring, I'd not have bothered to even start my project" (Linus vs. Tanenbaum). Therefore, the full package was provided for the operating system that runs 12.7% of servers in the world: an incredible amount of development and a license to release it under, the GNU GPL.
The most commonly-used license available is the standard United States Copyright, which protects work for commercial purposes and strictly-moderated distribution. An array of media similar to that of Creative Commons is covered by Copyright. A long list of literary works; musical works (and lyrics); dramatic works (and accompanying music); pantomimes and choreographical works; pictorial, graphical, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; audio; and architectural works are included and are to be interpreted broadly. For example, computer software and its respective source code is to be understood as a literary work. Also similar to Creative Commons, U.S. Copyright does not extend its coverage to intangible works, such as ideas, methods, discoveries, title and phrases, and common property (calendars or measuring devices). The purpose of Copyright is to give the original owner the right to reproduce the work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies and reproductions to the public commercially, and to display the work publically. Unlike licenses that provide more liberal terms, the work can only be distributed for a profit. Others may obtain the right to distribute and redistribute only through authorization from the original author. Most music and movies today are protected under copyright (hence the large debate over illegal and pirate media), yet a recent argument aroused by music fans is whether or not releasing songs under Copyright is effective at all. Recently, the band Radiohead (a chart-topping group from the United Kingdom) released their latest album In Rainbows for free on their website. Band manager Bryce Edge says "We're prepared to take a risk and we might come out looking very foolish. But we believe if your music is great, then people will pay for it" (Radiohead album set free on web). Relying on donations from listeners, the album was downloaded 1.2 million times, and the band raised a remarkable 10 million dollars within the first week. Kristen Nicole, a journalist for Mashable.com, reports "The number of albums sold in the past week exceeded the launch week sales of its three previous albums combined." Copyright has many legitimate uses, where the holder wishes to ensure a profit and prohibit any derivative works, but users of the work are at disadvantage.
There are numerous licenses available for work to be released under, and the three most popular have been discussed. Different levels of liberality are provided by different licenses, and depending on the genre of the work and the author's intentions, one license may be preferred over the other.
Works Cited
"A Quick Guide to GPLv3 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." 13 January 2008. GNU. 2 May 2008 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html>.
"Copyright Office Basics." July 2006. Copyright. 6 May 2008 <http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html>.
"The Free Software Definition - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." 13 January 2008. GNU. 2 May 2008 <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>.
Grossman, Lev. "The Battle Over Music Piracy." 24 May 2007. TIME Magazine. 25 May 2008 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625209,00.html>.
"Linus vs. Tanenbaum." 6 February 1992. GNU's Not Unix. 25 May 2008 <http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/Linus_vs_Tanenbaum.html>.
"Radiohead album set free on web." 10 October 2007. BBC News. 25 May 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7037219.stm>.
Works Consulted
"flickr.com - Traffic Details from Alexa." 24 May 2008. Alexa: The Web Information Company. 24 May 2008 <http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/flickr.com>.
"Frequently Asked Questions." 14 February 2008. Creative Commons. 29 April 2008 <http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ>.
Nicole, Kristen. "Radiohead Kicks the Middleman to the Curb: 1 Week, 1.2M Albums Sold." 19 October 2007. Mashable: Social Networking News. 23 May 2008 <http://mashable.com/2007/10/19/radiohead-album-sales/>.
Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Linux server market share keeps growing." 29 May 2007. Linux-Watch. 24 May 2008 <http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5369154346.html>.
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