Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Scott Johnston <johnston AT vectaport.com>]

Thanks for all the discussion so far.  I'm not subscribed to the list, so my reply might not be threaded with the rest.

Let me clarify that I am asking about something more than what fair-use allows, something more than a limited number of copies for personal backup or scholastic reasons (and you don't need a license for that).  Evan Prodromou comments seem most on target:

> <x-tad-bigger>First, how would you enforce it? What is an "associate"? If I met
> someone 10 minutes ago at a bar, can I give them a copy of the work?
> Are you going to check to see if I _really_ know that person? What if
> I know someone through the Internet, but we've never met in person?
>
> Also, it doesn't seem that effective. Say Alice has your work, and she
> gives a copy to Bob. Bob, in turn, gives one to Charlie, and Charlie
> gives a copy to Dave. Alice and Dave don't know each other, but now
> Dave has a copy. The effect is just like if Alice gave Dave a copy
> directly, so what's the advantage?
>
> If the idea is to allow redistribution by individuals but not big
> copy-generating operations, maybe the NonCommercial option would suit
> your needs. Otherwise, you should consult a lawyer in your area.
>
> ~ESP</x-tad-bigger>

At one-time I thought it rather difficult to tease apart commercial from non-commercial use with a copyright permission notice.  But Creative Commons has taken a big step in formalizing that.  Hence my curiousity if a distinction between private and public distribution (copying) can similarily be formalized into a copyright permission notice.

Note, I'm not referring to personal copying (but you were not confused by that).  I want to allow almost anything short of globally anonymous distribution.  I want to allow e-mail friends to be able to make a copy.  I want to allow a teacher to be able to distribute a copy to each student.  I wouldn't quibble if a university allowed distribution to its entire student body.  But I especially want to allow a group of friends to give each other copies, so they can share the use of the copyrighted work without breaking the law.

For this particular copyrighted work I would start with an Attribution-Non-Commercial license.  Then I would mix in a Private clause if one existed.  My test for whether the copying was private would be whether I could get a copy (for free or otherwise) by finding it on google.

Scott Johnston

On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:02 AM, Scott Johnston wrote:

> Has there been discussion at Creative Commons (or elsewhere) of developing a license that makes a distinction between public and private copying?  Something that extends the fair-use privileges protected by the Sony video tape decision to allow a person to privately distribute copies to their associates, but forbids them from making it available to the public?
>
> Scott Johnston