Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Francesco Poli <invernomuto AT paranoici.org>]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:22:06 +0100 Rob Myers wrote:

> On 04/16/2012 08:58 PM, James Grimmelmann wrote:
> >
> > As long as the parallel distribution really is sufficiently clear
> > and  convenient, nothing has been mooted. Anyone who wishes to 
> > redistribute
> > or modify the work has the ability to do so readily. They may not be
> > able to modify or redistribute a particular *copy*, but they will have
> > the freedom that matters: to use, share, and change the *work*.
> 
> The work is its instances, not the platonic possibility of using it 
> elsewhere.

So a book in PDF format is a distinct work from, say, its corresponding
LaTeX code?
I don't think this is a correct distinction to be made, not even from
a legal point of view: in my (non-lawyer) understanding of copyright
laws, those two "instances" are two forms of the *same* work, since a
"mechanical" transformation does not involve creativity, and hence does
not create a separate (derivative) work.

> 
> The licenses already allow individuals to install work onto their 
> DRM-encumbered devices privately. (IMO, IANAL.) This is as much as is 
> currently needed.

This holds for the source/object dichotomy, as well.

Licenses already allow individuals to privately compile their binary
executable programs from the corresponding sources.
You can build an entire GNU/Linux distribution that way (see Gentoo
Linux, for instance).
Yet, no Free Software license forbids the distribution of pre-compiled
binaries: strong copyleft licenses just require that source is made
available in parallel.
A license that forbids *any* distribution of non-source forms does not
meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines.


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