[GNUz] Creative Commons -NC Licenses Considered Harmful

[Jim Cheetham]

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/9/11/16331/0655



When the Creative Commons project published its first licenses in
December 2002, it finally brought a sense of unity behind the free
content movement. Instead of many scattered licenses, creators now have
the option to pick the right license for their work using a simple tool.
They only have to answer basic questions like: "Allow commercial uses?
Allow modifications?"

The tool then recommends one of the licenses developed by the Creative
Commons team. They are legally sane, simple documents, specially adapted
for various jurisdictions. In short, the Creative Commons project has
made life a lot easier for everyone wanting to share content.

One particular licensing option, however, is a growing problem for the
free content community. It is the allow non-commercial use only (-NC)
option. The "non-commercial use only" variants of the Creative Commons
licenses are non-free, and in some ways worse than traditional copyright
law -- because it can be harder to move away from them once people have
made the choice.

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