Creative Commons

Ever since I first stumbled upon Prof. Lawrence Lessig</a>’s book The Future of Ideas, I have been keenly aware that we are living in a dangerous era, where yesterday’s laws are being superceded by today’s technologies. And this erosion in the relevance of yesterday’s laws are creating a panic within the industries who are incapable of imagining themselves in this new world. And through lawsuits (RIAA) and legislation (DMCA), these industries (music, film, etc) not only hope to stunt the growth of choice and convenience among consumers of content, but possibly even supercede their previous bounderies and ulimtately eradicate all conceptions of fair use.

Think I’m crazy? Check out what’s going on up in Ithaca. This is just a taste of the world we will all be coming to know as information becomes more digital, and we all become more connected (and trackable).

What’s the remedy? I don’t know, but the Creative Commons is a start. If you want an animated trip through some of the issues that the Creative Commons means to tackle, check out this Flash presentation. It does an amazing job of summing up what many find hard to express about the problems with the current copyright legal system.

Once you’re sold on the idea of the Creative Commons, make sure to check out Common Content, a repository of Creative Commons content.