[okfn-discuss] Re: okfn-discuss Digest, Vol 14, Issue 10

Sat Nov 25 22:12:41 UTC 2006

Thanks for engaging in this discussion here! It's great that you care
enough and open to other opinions enough to hash this out here. :) 

<quote who="Ron Severdia" date="Fri, Nov 24, 2006 at 05:40:12PM -0800">
> >2. Agree that this makes it unlikely that anyone will print quality,
> >book versions of your work in large volumes.
> 
> It's already highly unlikely, but this will probably eliminate the  
> chance of any deal. If a big publisher was SERIOUSLY INTERESTED,  
> nothing would stop them from approaching me and getting specific  
> permission based on a mutually acceptable agreement. It's always  
> easier to loosen licensing that to tighten it.

Sure. But this can be extended to an argument for any restrictive
licensing provision. The point of free licensing is to cut this
permission asking to a minimum. The result, permissive licensing in the
free software and the nascent free culture movements show us, is more
creative uses of free stuff.

> >3. That this means, largely, that you are restricting the audience of
> >your work to people who own computers.
> 
> Why would you assume that? What about the student who prints a scene
> and brings it to class? What about the theatre director who prints 20
> copies for his actors?

It is traditional for the authors of plays to be paid royalties for
performances of a copyrighted play. If the play were going to be
charging admission, this printing would qualify as commercial use
AFAICT.

> >And if you do agree, can you explain why this does not bother you?
> 
> Because corporations without consciences suck. And they're everywhere.

Under a copyleft license that does not bar commercial use, anyone with a
copy of your work any derivative, is free to distribute and copy that
work at no cost -- to put it on a website and to make it completely
free to everyone.

You admit that you are probably blocking uses that you want to allow
with the NC licenses. The result of that, in the aggregate, is going to
be less use of your work. The problem with permission asking is that the
vast majority of people simply choose to use something else instead of
asking. 

Look around for examples of the type of abuse you are worried about in
the world of CC licensed works and you'll find they are hard to come by.
Look for it in free software. Now consider the demonstrable negative
effect of restrictive licensing on the use and dissemination of creative
goods.

NC protections might prevent a couple real corner cases of bad people
trying to do bad things. In the vast number of situations when they are
combined with the mitigating effects of copyleft, their real effect is
to inconvience good people, and to block legimate use, more often they
protect against the real bad guys.

Later,
Mako

-- 
Benjamin Mako Hill
mako at atdot.cc
http://mako.cc/

Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so
far as society is free to use the results. --RMS