Illegal Art

Attentive readers have already begun seeing double in copyright laws.

Creative Commons, founded at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools in 2001, is a system developed to work with current U.S. copyright laws to ensure both exchange of intellectual ideas, as well as preventing exploitation.

The Creative Commons initiative comes from a time-old debate among such industries as art, music, and writing: where does the balance lie between complete control over intellectual property and anarchy?

Complete control has the advantage of preventing unsolicited reprints for profit as well as preventing unwanted advocation for causes the creator did not intend.

A looser interpretation of copyright laws allows for what's known as "free advertising," allowing viewers to share the work as long as it remains intact and is not for any commercial use.

While the debate continues, Creative Commons has taken a simpler, more inventive route- a multi-layered approach to copyright specified to your needs.

Creative Commons licenses are based on three factors: commercial use, derivatives, and attribution.

While all Creative Commons licenses include attribution as a requirement, the creator has the choice of allowing their derivatives and/or commercial use. (A more comprehensive list of all levels of Creative Commons is available here.)