Date : 4 juin 2007 19:02:43 HAEC
Objet : [cc-licenses] Retiring standalone DevNations and one Sampling license
Today we are retiring two of the Creative Commons licenses -- the
stand alone Developing Nations license, as well as one of the three
Sampling licenses we offer. The reasons for these retirements are
both practical and principled.
The practical reason is simple lack of interest: From the start,
Creative Commons has promised to keep our family of licenses as
simple as possible. Actual demand has been one of the key indicators
of how simple things can be. We estimate just 0.01% of our existing
licenses are Developing Nations licenses, and 0.01% are the version
of the Sampling license that we are retiring. Those numbers say that
these licenses are not in demand.
The principled reasons are different with each license. The
Developing Nations license is in conflict with the growing "Open
Access Publishing" movement. While the license frees creative work in
the developing nations, it does not free work in any way elsewhere.
This means these licenses do not meet the minimum standards of the
Open Access Movement. Because this movement is so important to the
spread of science and knowledge, we no longer believe it correct to
promote a stand alone version of this license. Later this month, we
will begin a discussion about adding the terms of the Developing
Nations license to 5 of the other CC licenses, and giving users the
option to include those terms in their license. (So, for example, you
could select a BY-NC license for the developed world, but offer a BY
license for creators within Developing Nations.) Because such an
option would be attached to a standard CC license, it would not
conflict with the principle we are announcing here. Based upon the
feedback we get to that idea, we will decide whether to implement it.
The Sampling License presents a similar concern. Until today, we have
offered three versions of the Sampling license. Two of those versions
permit noncommercial sharing of the licensed work (SamplingPlus, and
Noncommercial SamplingPlus). One (the Sampling License) only permits
the remix of the licensed work, not the freedom to share it. There is
a strong movement to convince Creative Commons that our core licenses
at least permit the freedom to share a work noncommercially.
Creative Commons supports that movement. We will not adopt as a
Creative Commons license any license that does not assure at least
this minimal freedom -- at least not without substantial public
discussion. We are grateful for the feedback, and for the
understanding of those who helped us craft the sampling licenses,
both of which got us here.
This change does not affect any existing licensed work. The links to
these licenses, and every Creative Commons license, will always
remain valid. The only change we're making today is that we will no
longer offer these licenses on our licensing page.
To read more about these retirements, please visit our retired
licenses page at
Lawrence Lessig
CEO
Creative Commons
171 Second Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94105
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