The Creative Commons Movement

The internet is a fascinating place, and everywhere you look you see people sharing their ideas. It allows said person to be an artist of some shape and form by providing a space for them to spread their ideas and in turn inspire those around them. However, the power to inspire has dangerous consequences–no one wants someone else to get credit for an idea that they came up with; no one wants their ideas stolen. As I said last week, we still want to be able to share our ideas. So, we create a means of protection against idea thievery.

That is where Creative Commons (CC) comes into play. Creative Commons works alongside Copyright licenses. But where Copyright Licenses don’t allow any part of your idea to be used or altered, Creative Commons does allow these things. Creative Commons lets the artist choose what parts of his/her idea they want to allow others to alter, and what conditions, if any, coincide with the parts that they can alter. In this way the internet becomes a sort of muse for artists. We can create something from something else, without stealing someone’s idea completely. And we can give credit where credit is deserved.

Here’s their website: http://creativecommons.org/about. Also, know that Creative Commons is free. So if your trying to protect the rights of precious ideas, go learn about CC and perhaps utilize it if you so feel compelled.