Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Rob Myers <rob AT robmyers.org>]

Francesco Poli wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:29:17 +0000 rob AT robmyers.org wrote:
>
> > an imaginary Debian Legal listmember's
> > objection that it discriminates against a field of endeavor (DFSG-7 
> > IIRC).
>
> Just to nitpick: it's DFSG#6 (No Discrimination Against Fields of
> Endeavor); see [1] for further details.

D'oh. Clause 6. Thank you.

> Wait one second: are you claiming that CC-v3.0draft anti-DRM clause is
> equivalent to GPLv3draft2 one?
> [...] 
> I think that the GPLv3draft2 one implicitly allows parallel distribution
> (at least in cases where the DRM can be applied by anyone): the reason
> is that the clause focuses on "modes of conveying", rather than on
> imposition of DRM on the work.

Hmmm. I see what you mean. And given Mia's comment on the intent of the 
CC licenses, this may be the case for the CC licenses as well.

So do we really need a dual distribution clause anyway? Is it in fact 
the requirement to provide an unencumbered copy that is not currently 
present in the license and would require a dual distibution clause to 
introduce?

Oh, the irony if that is the case. :-)

But then we get on to who can legally add DRM to a work.

> Conveying through DRM-encumbered media or channels seems to be allowed
> as long as final recipients are not denied the freedoms granted by the
> license. 

This would be good for streaming internet radio using RealAudio for 
example. And possibly for the Zune case (at least for ND work, and 
ignoring Fair Use).

> Conveying through a DRM-*un*encumbered media or channel in
> parallel to the DRM-encumbered one, seems to be enough to re-enable the
> full exercise of the legal rights granted by the license, at least in
> cases where anyone is allowed to apply the DRM to modified versions of
> the work.

But if everyone is allowed to apply DRM to modified versions of the work 
they do not need to receive DRM versions of the work as they can apply 
the DRM to the original version themselves.

- Rob.