Comments on: Microsoft and Creative Commons http://madisonian.net/2006/06/21/microsoft-and-creative-commons/ a blog about law, tech, culture, and related things Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:22:44 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Frank http://madisonian.net/2006/06/21/microsoft-and-creative-commons/comment-page-1/#comment-44853 Frank Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:57:25 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=688#comment-44853 This is a very promising development. I hope to look through the policy and see if there is any way one can "dedicate a work to the public domain" via it (ala the Cyberprofs conversation of a few weeks ago started by Tim Wu). As Niva Elkins-Koren has suggested, there are ways in which the creative commons license tends to exacerbate the very trends toward commodification and control it sought to address. See http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=760906 One other possibly provocative point--would this enable a certain "phoning home" style of DRM (to use Randy Picker's language) that could, say, report on violations of the CC license? This article leads me to such concerns: http://www.slate.com/id/2130300/ Not to rain on anyone's parade, but that latter possibility does suggest the tensions between frictionless information management and privacy. But that's not to say I'm totally against the market power of a Microsoft in a situation like this. Much of it may be due to innovation. It may be that only a dominant firm can impose the type of order that a creative-commons like regime needs to thrive. And finally, given Bill Gates's extraordinary humanitarian efforts, there is the weight of arguments like this, by Geoff Rapp: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=316124 Perhaps innovations like this are one more example of the welfare-enhancing effects that Rapp describes. This is a very promising development. I hope to look through the policy and see if there is any way one can “dedicate a work to the public domain” via it (ala the Cyberprofs conversation of a few weeks ago started by Tim Wu). As Niva Elkins-Koren has suggested, there are ways in which the creative commons license tends to exacerbate the very trends toward commodification and control it sought to address. See
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=760906

One other possibly provocative point–would this enable a certain “phoning home” style of DRM (to use Randy Picker’s language) that could, say, report on violations of the CC license? This article leads me to such concerns:
http://www.slate.com/id/2130300/

Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but that latter possibility does suggest the tensions between frictionless information management and privacy.

But that’s not to say I’m totally against the market power of a Microsoft in a situation like this. Much of it may be due to innovation. It may be that only a dominant firm can impose the type of order that a creative-commons like regime needs to thrive. And finally, given Bill Gates’s extraordinary humanitarian efforts, there is the weight of arguments like this, by Geoff Rapp:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=316124

Perhaps innovations like this are one more example of the welfare-enhancing effects that Rapp describes.

]]> By: digital garbage · Microsoft and Creative Commons http://madisonian.net/2006/06/21/microsoft-and-creative-commons/comment-page-1/#comment-44494 digital garbage · Microsoft and Creative Commons Thu, 22 Jun 2006 04:14:48 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=688#comment-44494 [...] Brett Frischmann reports at Madisonian.net that Creative Commons and Microsoft are releasing a copyright licensing tool to enable the "easy addition of Creative Commons licensing information for works in popular Microsoft® Office applications."  That's great news and a big development — the ease of inserting a license should get the public thinking more about the benefits of clarity in copyright law, and encourage broader licensing of many works, such as currently occurs widely at Flickr.com. [...] [...] Brett Frischmann reports at Madisonian.net that Creative Commons and Microsoft are releasing a copyright licensing tool to enable the "easy addition of Creative Commons licensing information for works in popular Microsoft® Office applications."  That's great news and a big development — the ease of inserting a license should get the public thinking more about the benefits of clarity in copyright law, and encourage broader licensing of many works, such as currently occurs widely at Flickr.com. [...]

]]> By: The Fire of Genius » Creative Commons in Microsoft … http://madisonian.net/2006/06/21/microsoft-and-creative-commons/comment-page-1/#comment-44238 The Fire of Genius » Creative Commons in Microsoft … Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:22:14 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=688#comment-44238 [...] neat!” Filed under: Copyright , IP Policy , Creativity & Invention Permalink | Trackback URL| [...] [...] neat!” Filed under: Copyright , IP Policy , Creativity & Invention Permalink | Trackback URL| [...]

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