No To Creative Commons
01.30.2009I’ve been thinking about setting up a new site to post all of the content that I’ve been working on for my sci-fi world. I was asked whether I would put it under a Creative Commons license given that it wasn’t so much a “story” as “back story” that others might benefit creatively from. It was an interesting question.
But I said no.
Fuck the Creative Commons.
Look, I completely believe that copyright or, I suppose I should say, copyright enforcement has gotten totally out of hand. The fair use doctrine has been whittled away at so much that it seems that any kind of use these days counts as infringement. And, of course, that’s bullshit. Using a clip of a song, movie, TV show, or excerpt of text is not infringement and saying it is doesn’t help anyone, much less the copyright owner.
In a place where the rule of law governs human interaction, it remains important – more important, some might say – that the laws not only make sense but are respected. If not, then the laws will be ignored and then nothing rules.
Take, for example, music. For years people were making mix tapes. The industry knew about it but generally looked the other way even though this was clearly “infringement”. Once the internet got going, people ripped their CDs and pretty much did the same thing with MP3s. Of course, these being perfect copies freaked the shit out of the record industry and they began clamping down like the retards they are. Soon people weren’t just trading songs, they were trading whole albums because who knew if that shit was going to be available next week.
I’m not saying that some people weren’t trading whole albums before but what was lost to the recording industry? Album sales? Hardly likely.
Just like mix tapes, most people were listening to music they likely wouldn’t have otherwise. Chances were, people weren’t buying a whole lot of albums based on the mix tapes. Maybe one or two here or there.
But what about the decline of sales for the industry, some ask. Well… the way people listened to music changed. People weren’t listening to whole CDs any more but mixes on their MP3 players. And because the industry for a long time still insisted that people buy the CDs, it became easier just to find an illegal copy online. Their insistence on a format coupled with their fear of infringement lead to stricter enforcement and a greater disregard for their rights.
It also didn’t help that music sucks these days.
So I get why people want a license that allows them to take, modify, and be inspired from the original work without fear of prosecution. It keeps some respect for the idea of copyright.
But it isn’t for me.
Look, I’ve never had anyone want to reprint anything here but if they wanted to, why should I, as the copyright owner and, more importantly, the creator of the crap that’s here, not be notified and asked for permission first? Chances are I’d say yes anyway. It’s kind of cool to think that someone would want to do that. But I’m not going to let it happen otherwise.
In the case of the back story for my sci-fi world, I don’t want any modification, no derivative works, or publication in anything commercial or otherwise. It’s my world. I spent the time working out all the ins and outs. It’s the back story to my stories which are, themselves, derivative works.
The logical next question is, why publish it then? For the same reason they published the The Star Trek: TNG Technical Manual. Some people like to see the thought put into these things. Plus it gives me a central place to organize things and a place for me to direct people for more information on my world once I finally do get something published. It becomes a hub site for that particular project.
But just because I post something on the internet does not mean I want every Tom, Dick, and Sally doing their own thing with my stuff.
But it’s a copyright. It’s not the word of god. Should someone go ahead and put together their own derivative work and send it to me asking for permission, I just might grant it. I can’t stop someone from creating a derivative work, nor would I. My copyright prevents it from being of any economic benefit to those who infringe without my permission.
And that’s the gist of this whole post. They’re my rights as a content creator. I can give them away as freely as I’d like or keep them as closed as I want. It’s up to me. And just because there are assholes who wield it like a fucking bat doesn’t mean there aren’t others who take a more reasonable view.
And that’s that, kids. Take it easy.