Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Rob Myers <rob AT robmyers.org>]

On 04/13/2012 10:42 AM, David Chart wrote:
> On 2012/04/13, at 3:14, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
>
> > When you combine the works you'd distribute the result under CC-By-SA.
> >
> > I don't see how the prohibition on DRM terms which would moot the
> > requirements of the license adds any complication to this case.
>
> I'm not sure "complication" is quite the right word, but if you made
> a  derivative book and thought you could distribute your work commercially,
> discovering that you couldn't use any of the major online bookstores
> would be quite a shock.

Finding that you have to host the book on your own web server until it 
is no longer available from any retailer will come as something of a 
shock as well, both technically and financially.

BY-SA is intended to protect individuals' freedom of speech and 
expression. It is not intended to protect corporations' power to limit 
those rights. This really shouldn't surprise anyone who knows enough to 
be able to decide that they are going to exercise those rights themselves.

> A blanket ban on using CC-BY-SA material on about half of the smart
> phones in operation might also puzzle people. (Maybe more; there might
> be some versions of Android with DRM as well.)

Anyone who doesn't want to root their device can use a web-based reader. 
Or use the fact that they are not distributing the file to download it 
to their device with DRM added to their personal copy.

- Rob.