Sharecropping at the Washington Post

Posted on August 10, 2006 by Lessig

Denise Howell has a great post about the Washington Post’s plan to run a mash-up. According to the terms and conditions, as a condition of participating, the artists must agree to “grant and assign all right, title and interest in the Recording to” the Washington Post.

Good for the Washington Post — mash-ups are an important and valuable form of creativity encouraged (and democratized) by digital technology. But I believe that the artists who create them deserve to own and hold the copyright to their new creative work. And in my view, any self-respecting artist should refuse to participate in any sharecropping mash-up. You did the work. You should own the rights to the work you did.

Posted in bad law | 2 Comments

Another CC Salon

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Lessig

CC Salon is happening tomorrow – Wednesday, August 9th – from 6-9pm at Shine in San Francisco. CC Salon is a free, casual monthly get-together focused on conversation, networking, and presentations from people or groups who are developing projects that relate to open content and tools. CC Salon SF is now being presented in conjunction with CopyNight SF.

This month’s line-up of speakers includes Hemai Parthasarathy and Barbara Cohen of the Public Library of Science, Owen Byrne of Digg, and John Buckman of Magnatune. Shannon Coulter will be DJing a set of CC music from Magnatune’s catalogue.

For more information, visit this event’s Upcoming.org listing.


This Flickr photo of CC Salon was taken by DNSF and is used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

Posted in creative commons | 1 Comment

the one thing PFF and I agree on for sure

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Lessig

Ray Gifford has announced he is stepping down from being President of PFF. There are (unfortunately) too few things I and PFF agree about. But we agree about Ray. He is a man of extraordinary integrity and insight. It is sad to see him go (but for the best of all possible reasons).

Posted in heroes | 1 Comment

well, one thing could make me happier

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Lessig

So 25 minutes after I posted the post below about Balkin’s book (saying “nothing could make me happier”), the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided the appeal in the case I argued (more than 18 months ago). It is here. My client won. Ok, you’re right, NJ SCt. I’m happier.

Update: The New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision (5-1) is really extraordinary. It has again placed New Jersey in the lead for protecting its citizens (and especially its children). The law that granted immunity to charities for “negligence” has been interpreted to mean just “negligence.” You’d think that wouldn’t take years to resolve, but having it resolved is fantastically good news — far more than even we had asked for.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

My increasingly favorite academic press

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Lessig

yale_logo.gif

So I’m back on the grid, after a (never long enough) break with my family. Nothing is as cool as my kid. And though returning is tough, this news was great to return to:

You’ll recall my over-the-top (but completely accurate) praise for Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. That was published by Yale University Press, which allowed Yochai to release the book under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license (you must give attribution, you can make only noncommercial uses of the work, and any derivative must be under the same license).

Today, Jack Balkin wrote to say that Yale has now permitted him to release his book, Cultural Software, under the same CC license. Balkin’s book (published in 1998) resolves a plainly more academic debate. But it uses metaphors from computer science to develop a theory of how cultures evolve. Balkin is a friend, and long before a friend, mentor for me. Nothing could make me happier than to see his great book within the CC family.

Posted in creative commons | 7 Comments

OneWebDay: September 22, 2006

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Elaine Adolfo

The Web has changed millions of lives. Just two months from now, on September 22, we’ll be celebrating the first OneWebDay. OneWebDay is one day a year when we all – everyone around the physical globe – can celebrate the Web and what it means to us as individuals, organizations, and communities. In short, it’s like an Earth Day for the Internet–a day to stop and think about what the Internet means to us.

Add the OneWebDay Button to your site and get together with friends in your town to plan an outdoor celebration with an online component that people elsewhere on the Web can appreciate. Put a link on the OneWebDay wiki In New York’s Bryant Park, San Francisco’s Union Square, in London with the Lord Mayor, near City Hall in Austin, in downtown Chicago, in downtown Portland, Maine, all over Canada, and in Naples (Italy), and Canberra (Australia), OneWebDay will be celebrated for the first time on Sept. 22 — and those are just the celebrations we know about.

The goal of OneWebDay is to make the Web, and our individual connection to it, visible — so that we don’t take it for granted. We make progress when we make things visible.

Posted in guest post | 5 Comments

Bravo John Edwards

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Lessig

So I’m sitting at a hot Internet Cafe in Costa Rica, interrupting the month with the family, to follow Dave’s lead in drawing attention to just how Edwards’ gets the net. As Dave explains, former-Senator Edwards has begun distributing video using BitTorrent — demonstrating the important value of this technology that has nothing to do with “piracy.” Now if only he’d signal clearly the freedoms that run with his video…

(Thanks, Dave)

Posted in good code | 6 Comments

Remixed Heroes

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Lessig

One of the greatest moments in my career was when I got to introduce David Byrne at Wired’s Creative Commons Concert in New York. At that September 2004 event, we announced that David Byrne and Brian Eno intended to re-release their seminal Bush of Ghosts album with tracks available for remix under a CC license. A couple of months ago, the Bush of Ghosts remix contest launched with the component tracks of two songs available under CC for remix. So far more than 170 remixes have been submitted to this extraordinary site. I’m sure I’ll get in trouble for this, but as Byrne has always been an inspiration to me — long before I knew anything about copyright — I must confess nothing else in the history of CC has meant more to me. Pitchfork has a great new interview with Byrne on Bush of Ghosts, as well as his other cool projects (including his own fascinating blog) here.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Creative Commons SF Salon Tonight

Posted on July 12, 2006 by Elaine Adolfo

Join us for the July CC Salon, taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 12 from 6pm-9pm at Shine. CC Salon is a casual get-together focused on conversation and community-building with 2-3 brief presentations from individuals and groups developing projects with relationship to Creative Commons. We look forward to seeing you there!

CC Salon – San Francisco
Wednesday, July 12, 6-9 PM
Shine
1337 Mission Street (between 9th and 10th)
San Francisco

Posted in cc | 1 Comment

GOOD Magazine comes to San Francisco

Posted on July 12, 2006 by Elaine Adolfo

Bay Area CC friends: You are invited to a party on July 14 at the 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco, hosted by GOOD Magazine! Join us for a night of art, music (provided by Odd Nosdam of Anticon), and an open bar. Admission is free if you purchase a year subscription to GOOD Magazine.

GOOD is a new publication focusing on people, ideas, and institutions that are affecting the world in innovative and positive ways. One very cool thing about GOOD is its Choose GOOD campaign, where you can subscribe to a year of the magazine for $20 and choose a partnering non-profit organization that you want 100% of your subscription fee to go towards helping. That means for $20, you can subscribe to a year of GOOD, make a contribution to CC, and gain admission to a night of great fun.

Details:
GOOD Magazine comes to San Francisco!
Friday, July 14; 9pm-2am
111 Minna Gallery (111 Minna St.)
Art, music (provided by Odd Nosdam), and open bar all night.
Magazine subscription required for entry. 100% of your subscription fee can go towards helping CC! Subscribe here.

To RSVP: (1) go to www.goodmagazine.com, (2) subscribe (all $20 goes to the organization you choose) and (3) email your name and confirmation number to [email protected]

Posted in cc | 2 Comments