simonWe shouldn't be satisfied with open licences to release open resources. With the democratisation and institutionalisation of openness movements, but also because of the contemporary crisis, a copyright reform must be a target in our mind.
Open licenses are a complex system, weapons of the weak.
In 1976, the US copyright Act started to protect software with software industry increasingly closing their code source. In reaction in 80's, Richard Stallman started the free software movement while creating the first open licence (Emacs/GNU General Public License) to guarantee software freedom.
Near 1998, Lawrence Lessig fought at the Supreme Court against the Copyright Term Extension Act to counter this extension of over 70 years after author's death (!) to protect the public domain. They failed, and it led to the creation of the organization @Creative Commons and their licences in 2001.
Open licenses exist because the copyright framework does not provide a way to share outside complex licensing mechanisms. Licenses are bad; it's private law based on tools provided by private organisations.
ยซ CC licenses are a patch, not a fix, for the problems of the copyright system. ยป Creative Commons organization on copyright reform: https://creativecommons.org/about/policy-advocacy-copyright-reform/reform/
A copyright reform would be about integrating a new human right, the right to share.
It's about transforming the public domain which is inconsistent worldwide, where death may be one of the best ways to contribute to it without providing necessarily modification rights.
In fifty years, the landscape changed and open models are becoming mainstream. The EU open source strategy just few days ago, the UNESCO recommendation on open science with a proliferation of national policies on that matter, the UNESCO recommendation on open education with also national policies emerging.
It will be time to flip the table, to change the rules and contribute to the collapse of the open licensing system in order to build the future. We are wasting a tremendous amount of energy because of this inefficient system.
A necessary evil today, but a proper education in licensing should provide a critical framework and not merely explain how it works.
The current copyright system is primarily designed to serve economic interests. In the face of crises, with the need to widely disseminate knowledge and solutions to problems, the entire philosophy behind the copyright system needs to be rethought.
It's a collective battle against powerful forces โ this is an ideological conflict for the sake of society.
#openmodels #openscience #openeducation #openhardware #opensoftware #opensource #digitalcommons #creativecommons #copyrightReform
Tim Green
Strypey
Elliott Bledsoe
SPARC Europe
PPC Land
Hacker News
iam-py-test 
