Development of Creative Commons licenses

[wolfgang wander <wwc AT lns.mit.edu>]

Dana Powers wrote:
> It is definitely a problem anytime someone misunderstands what rights
> and restrictions are covered by a particular license.  Right now CC
> answers this particular question in FAQ 2.12 here:
> http://tinyurl.com/3a3fav
>
> Do you have thoughts on how this faq could be made more clear?
>
> Dana

Now looking at this FAQ - it requires 'a collection of works in their
exact original format, not adaptations'.  In my view:

   * any print of a digital image is an adaptation and
     certainly not the original format.
   * any editorial use of my full size image (it has
     to be scaled, maybe cropped) is an adaptation
     and certainly neither one is the original format.

Even this very much hidden-from-view FAQ would very clearly exclude
editorial use of my images.

As I said before - for a photographer the SA part of the license
is only meaningful if it refers to the reuse of the image in an
editorial context.  Otherwise there is hardly any difference between an
SA and a non-SA license.

I would also like to stress that the above FAQ does not address the
creators rights but is solely written from the re-user's perspective.

For me when I am asked to chose a license on
http://creativecommons.org/license/
and I click on 'more info' for 'share alike' I need to have the
example of image/text combination in this little pop-up box to make
an informed decision.

I doubt that the majority of flickr's cc-by-sa content creators are
aware of or would even remotely agree to your interpretation.

But you asked how his issue can be made more clear?  How about this FAQ
entry:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Can I as a content creator require that any other content that contains
my work in original or modified form has to be distributed under a
'share alike' license?

No. Creative Commons licenses are explicitly not designed for this purpose.
-------------------------------------------------------------

That would be a statement that makes it clear enough for me to stay
miles away from any CC- license.

           Wolfgang




> 
> On 2/15/07, wolfgang wander <wwc AT lns.mit.edu> wrote:
>> Peter Brink wrote:
>>> wolfgang wander skrev:
>>>> If you ..., BUILD UPON THIS WORK' which I clearly
>>>> understand as an inclusion of my images in editorial content.
>>>>
>>> Well, that is a misunderstanding. In fact, (IMO) there are two false
>>> assumptions here.
>>>
>>> A) When you use works (for example a text about racing cars and some
>>> photos of such cars) as building blocks to create a collective work,
>>> then the components used are treated as having independent copyrights.
>>> They might supplement each other but that doesn't make one or the other
>>> a derivative work. You of course need permission to copy and publish the
>>> works that makes up the collective work but that is granted by the
>>> license. An editor that uses your photos to supplement a text on a
>>> website does not build upon your work, he copies the photo but he does
>>> not adapt it.
>>>
>>> B) The CC-licenses are designed to extend the scope of choices available
>>> for _creators_ and thereby indirectly extend the freedom of users to
>>> re-use. They are not designed to extend one creators control over other
>>> creators independent works.
>> If that is the case, which it may well be, this should be stated then
>> in very clear terms so that photographers who look for a copyleft
>> license (which cc-by-sa was commonly referred to) aren't falling in the
>> same trap as I did here obviously.
>>
>> The current example about movie and sound seem to imply derivation but
>> if this is not the case for images and text, by cc's definition,
>> cc-by-sa is not an option for me and probably not for any of my
>> colleagues who published under a similar assumption.
>>
>> CC's interpretation of what kind of license has to apply to a
>> combination of text and images should be given a very prominent
>> place on the creative commons website.
>>
>>     Wolfgang
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