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cc-licenses - Re: Wiki license 0.5 beta

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Rob Myers <robmyers AT mac.com>
  • To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Wiki license 0.5 beta
  • Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:36:18 +0000

On 26 Mar 2005, at 20:06, Greg London wrote:

But my main argument is that if
a project can succeed without
attribution per individual contributer,
then isn't the project better off
without the extra overhead?

The project is, the contributor isn't. That is; the community is, the individual isn't.

Now, remember that I've been against automatic attribution for "gift economy" projects at one time or another. My current position revolves around the idea of the "social contract" of a given creative community.

What is the social contract of wikis? Why do people submit work to wikis? Do they want people to know who they are? Or are they happy to be part of the hive mind?

But aside from that, this is a dangerous license. I see a large market for it, one that I fear CC hasn't seen, even though its first customer (Lessig) is using the license to do exactly what all its potential customers want to do (and shame on him!).

This non-attribution license is going to be like crack cocaine for every organisation that wants that cool "open" aura without having to give anything away. Here, at last, is the "what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine" license that big media has wanted for so long. And it's under a Creative Commons banner.

I predict that this license will become a firm favorite. Just not with wikis, which are already locked into the GNU FDL.

Bad idea.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea.

Seriously bad idea.

- Rob.





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