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Free-culture movement

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Thefree-culture movementis asocial movementthat promotes thefreedomto distribute and modify thecreative worksof others in the form offree content[1][2]oropen content.[3][4][5]They encourage creators to create such content by usingpermissiveandshare-alikelicensing, like that used on Wikipedia.

Lawrence Lessig standing at a podium with a microphone, with a laptop computer in front of him.
Lawrence Lessig,an influential activist of the free-culture movement, in 2005

The movementobjectsto what it considers over-restrictivecopyrightlaws. Many members of the movement argue that over-restrictive laws hinder creativity[6]and create a "permission culture",which they worry will shrink thepublic domain[7]andfair use.[citation needed]They engage in political activism, mostly advocating for specific limits on copyright.[7]

The free-culture movement, with its ethos of free exchange of ideas, is aligned with thefree and open-source-software movement,as well as other movements and philosophies such asopen access(OA), theremix culture,thehacker culture,theaccess to knowledge movement,thecopyleftmovement and thepublic domainmovement.

History

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Precursors

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In the late 1960s,Stewart Brandfounded theWhole Earth Catalogand argued that technology could be liberating rather than oppressing.[8]He coined the slogan "Information wants to be free"in 1984[9]to advocate against limitingaccess to informationby governmental control, preventing a public domain of information.[10]

Background of the formation of the free-culture movement

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In 1998, theUnited States Congresspassed theSonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act,whichPresident Clintonsigned into law. The legislation extended copyright protections for twenty additional years, resulting in a total guaranteed copyright term of seventy years after a creator's death. The bill was heavily lobbied by music and film corporations likeDisney,and dubbed as theMickey MouseProtection Act.Lawrence Lessigclaims copyright is an obstacle to cultural production, knowledge sharing and technological innovation, and that private interests – as opposed to public good – determine law.[11]He travelled the country in 1998, giving as many as a hundred speeches a year at college campuses, and sparked the movement. It led to the foundation of the first chapter of theStudents for Free CultureatSwarthmore College.

In 1999, Lessig challenged the Bono Act, taking the case to theUS Supreme Court.Despite his firm belief in victory, citing the Constitution's plain language about "limited" copyright terms, Lessig only gained two dissenting votes: from JusticesStephen BreyerandJohn Paul Stevens.

Foundation of the Creative Commons

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In 2001, Lessig initiatedCreative Commons,an alternative "some rights reserved" licensing system to the default "all rights reserved" copyright system. Lessig focuses on afairbalance between the interest of the public to use and participate into released creative works and the need of protection for a creator's work, which still enables a "read-write"remix culture.[6]

The term "free culture" was originally used since 2003 during theWorld Summit on Information Society[12]to present the first free license for artistic creation at large, initiated by theCopyleftattitude team in France since 2001 (namedfree art license). It was then developed in Lawrence Lessig's bookFree Culturein 2004.[13]

In August 2003 theOpen Content Project,a 1998 Creative Commons precursor byDavid A. Wiley,announced the Creative Commons as successor project and Wiley joined as director.[14][15]

"Definition of Free Cultural Works"

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In 2005/2006 within the free-culture movement, Creative Commons was criticized byErik Möller[16]andBenjamin Mako Hillfor lacking minimum standards for freedom.[17]Following this, the "Definition of Free Cultural Works"was created as collaborative work of many, includingErik Möller,Lawrence Lessig,Benjamin Mako HillandRichard Stallman.[18]In February 2008, severalCreative Commons licenseswere "approved for free cultural works", namely theCC BYandCC BY-SA(later also theCC0).[19]Creative Commons licenses with restrictions on commercial use or derivative works were not approved.

In October 2014, theOpen Knowledge Foundationdescribed their definition of "open", foropen contentandopen knowledge,as synonymous to the definition of "free" in the "Definition of Free Cultural Works", noting that both are rooted in theOpen Source DefinitionandFree Software Definition.[20]Therefore, the same three creative commons licenses are recommended foropen contentand free content,CC BY,CC BY-SA,andCC0.[21][22][23]The Open Knowledge foundation additionally defined three specialized licenses for data and databases, previously unavailable: the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL), the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-BY) and theOpen Data Commons Open Database License(ODbL).

Organizations

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Creative Commonslogo

The organization commonly associated with free culture isCreative Commons(CC), founded byLawrence Lessig.CC promotes sharing creative works and diffusing ideas to produce cultural vibrance, scientific progress and business innovation.

Student organizationFreeCulture.org,inspired by Lessig and founded 2003. The Building blocks are a symbol for reuse and remi xing of creative works, used also as symbol of theRemix culture.

QuestionCopyright.orgis another organization whose stated mission is "to highlight the economic, artistic, and social harm caused by distribution monopolies, and to demonstrate how freedom-based distribution is better for artists and audiences."[24]

QuestionCopyright may be best known for its association with artistNina Paley,whose multi-award-winning feature length animationSita Sings The Blueshas been held up as an extraordinarily successful[25]example of free distribution under the aegis of the "Sita Distribution Project".[26]The web site of the organization has a number of resources, publications, and other references related to various copyright, patent, and trademark issues.

The student organizationStudents for Free Cultureis sometimes confusingly called "the Free Culture Movement", but that is not its official name. The organization is a subset of the greater movement. The first chapter was founded in 1998 at Swarthmore College, and by 2008, the organization had 26 chapters.[27]

The free-culture movement takes the ideals of thefree and open-source softwaremovement and extends them from the field ofsoftwareto allculturaland creative works. Early in Creative Commons' life,Richard Stallman(the founder of theFree Software Foundationand thefree softwaremovement) supported the organization. He withdrew his support due to the introduction of several licenses including the developing nations (retired in 2007)[28]and sampling licenses.[29]Stallman later restored some support when Creative Commons retired those licenses.

Thefree musicmovement, a subset of the free-culture movement, started out just as the Web rose in popularity with the Free Music Philosophy[30]byRam Samudralain early 1994. It was also based on the idea of free software by Richard Stallman and coincided with nascent open art and open information movements (referred to here as collectively as the "free-culture movement" ). The Free Music Philosophy used a three-pronged approach to voluntarily encourage the spread of unrestricted copying, based on the fact that copies of recordings and compositions could be made and distributed with complete accuracy and ease via the Internet. The subsequent free music movement was reported on by diverse media outlets includingBillboard,[31]Forbes,[32]Levi's Original Music Magazine,[33]The Free Radical,[34]Wired[35][36]andThe New York Times.[37]Along with theexplosion of the Webdriven byopen source softwareandLinux,the rise ofP2Pandlossy compression,and despite the efforts of the music industry, free music became largely a reality in the early 21st century.[38]Organizations such as theElectronic Frontier Foundationand Creative Commons with free information champions like Lawrence Lessig were devising numerous licenses that offered different flavors of copyright and copyleft. The question was no longer why and how music should be free, but rather how creativity would flourish while musicians developed models to generate revenue in the Internet era.[39][40][41]

Reception

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Skepticism from Richard Stallman

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Initially,Free Software FoundationfounderRichard Stallmandid not see the importance of free works beyond software.[42]For instance for manuals and books Stallman stated in the 1990s:

As a general rule, I don't believe that it is essential for people to have permission to modify all sorts of articles and books. The issues for writings are not necessarily the same as those for software. For example, I don't think you or I are obliged to give permission to modify articles like this one, which describe our actions and our views.

Similarly, in 1999 Stallman said that he sees "no social imperative for free hardware designs like the imperative for free software".[43]Other authors, such asJoshua Pearce,have argued that there is an ethical imperative foropen-source hardware,specifically with respect toopen-source-appropriate technologyforsustainable development.[44]

Later, Stallman changed his position slightly and advocated for free sharing of information in 2009.[45]But, in 2011 Stallman commented on theMegauploadfounder's arrest, "I think all works meant for practical uses must be free, but that does not apply to music, since music is meant for appreciation, not for practical use."[46]In a follow-up Stallman differentiated three classes: works of practical use should be free, works representing points of view should be shareable but not changeable and works of art or entertainment should be copyrighted (but only for 10 years).[47]In an essay in 2012 Stallman argued thatvideo gamesas software should be free but not their artwork.[48]In 2015 Stallman advocated forfree hardwaredesigns.[49]

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Vocal criticism against the free-culture movement comes from copyright proponents.

Prominent technologist and musicianJaron Lanierdiscusses this perspective of free culture in his 2010 bookYou Are Not a Gadget.Lanier's concerns include the depersonalization of crowd-sourced anonymous media (such as Wikipedia) and the economic dignity of middle-class creative artists.

Andrew Keen,a critic ofWeb 2.0,criticizes some of the free culture ideas in his book,Cult of the Amateur,describing Lessig as an "intellectual property communist".[50]

The decline of the news media industry's market share is blamed on free culture but scholars likeClay Shirkyclaim that the market itself, not free culture, is what is killing the journalism industry.[13]

Thefree art movementis distinct from the free culture movement as the artist retains full copyright for the work. The free art movement is the practice of artists leaving art in public places for the public to remove and keep. The artwork is usually tagged with a notice stating it is free art, and either with the artist's name or left anonymously. The movement was reinvigorated by Britishstreet artpractitionerMy Dog Sighscoining the term "Free Art Fridays".[51]Clues to the location of artworks are sometimes left onsocial mediato combinetreasure huntingwith art.[52]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"What does a free culture look like?".Students of Free culture. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-04-27.Retrieved2009-10-24.
  2. ^"What is free culture?".Students of Free culture. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-04-27.Retrieved2009-10-24.
  3. ^The Alternative Media Handbookby Kate Coyer, Tony Dowmunt, Alan Fountain
  4. ^Open Access: What You Need to Know NowbyWalt Crawford
  5. ^Open Content - A Practical Guide to Using Creative Commons LicencesbyWikimedia Deutschlandby Till Kreutzer (2014)
  6. ^abLarry Lessig(2007-03-01)."Larry Lessig says the law is strangling creativity".ted.Retrieved2016-02-26.
  7. ^abRobert S. Boynton:The Tyranny of Copyright?Archived2009-02-28 at theWayback MachineThe New York Times,January 25, 2004
  8. ^Baker, Ronald J (2008-02-08),Mind over matter: why intellectual capital is the chief source of wealth,John Wiley & Sons, p. 80,ISBN9780470198810.
  9. ^"Edge 338",Edge,no. 338, archived fromthe originalon 2019-07-02,retrieved2011-04-23.
  10. ^Wagner, R Polk,Information wants to be free: intellectual property and the mythologies of control(PDF),University of Pennsylvania, archived fromthe original(PDFessay)on 2017-09-22,retrieved2016-05-07.
  11. ^Lessig, Lawrence (2004).Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity.New York: Penguin. p. 368.ISBN9781101200841.RetrievedMarch 15,2014.
  12. ^WSIS (2001)."PCT WORKING GROUP EVENT"Archived2013-07-29 at theWayback Machine
  13. ^abQuart, Alissa (2009)."Expensive Gifts",Columbia Journalism Review,48(2).
  14. ^David A. Wiley(30 June 2003)."OpenContent is officially closed. And that's just fine".opencontent.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2003-08-02.Retrieved2016-02-21.I'm closing OpenContent because I think Creative Commons is doing a better job of providing licensing options which will stand up in court.
  15. ^Creative Commons Welcomes David Wiley as Educational Use License Project Leadby matt on creativecommons.org (June 23rd, 2003)
  16. ^Erik Moeller (2006)."The Case for Free Use: Reasons Not to Use a Creative Commons -NC License"(PDF).Open Source Jahrbuch.
  17. ^Benjamin Mako Hill(June 29, 2005)."Towards a Standard of Freedom: Creative Commons and the Free Software Movement".Mako.cc.Retrieved2011-12-03.
  18. ^Definition of Free Cultural Works.Freedomdefined.org (2008-12-01). Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  19. ^"Approved for Free Cultural Works".2008-02-20.
  20. ^Open Definition 2.1on opendefinition.org
  21. ^licenseson opendefinition
  22. ^Creative Commons 4.0 BY and BY-SA licenses approved conformant with the Open Definitionby Timothy Vollmer on creativecommons.org (December 27th, 2013)
  23. ^Open Definition 2.0 releasedby Timothy Vollmer on creativecommons.org (October 7th, 2014)
  24. ^A Clearinghouse For New Ideas About Copyright.QuestionCopyright.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  25. ^Nina Paley at HOPE 2010.YouTube.Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  26. ^The Sita Sings the Blues Distribution ProjectArchived2015-10-22 at theWayback Machine.QuestionCopyright.org (2009-09-15). Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  27. ^Hayes, Christopher (2009)."Mr. Lessig Goes to Washington"Archived2015-10-17 at theWayback Machine,The Nation,June 16, 2008
  28. ^"Retiring standalone DevNations and one Sampling license".Creative Commons.2007-06-04.Retrieved2020-10-26.
  29. ^interview for LinuxP2P(6 February 2006)
  30. ^Samudrala, Ram(1994)."The Free Music Philosophy".Retrieved2008-10-26.
  31. ^Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (18 July 1998).Billboard.Nielsen Business Media, Inc.ISSN0006-2510.Retrieved3 December2011.{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)
  32. ^Penenberg A. Habias copyrightus. "Forbes", July 11 1997.Forbes. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  33. ^Durbach D. "Short fall to freedom: The free music insurgency".Levi's Original Music Magazine,November 19, 2008.Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  34. ^Ballin M. Unfair Use. "The Free Radical" 47, 2001.Freeradical.co.nz. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  35. ^Oakes C. Recording industry goes to war against web sites. Wired, June 10 1997.Wired. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  36. ^Stutz M. They (used to) write the songs. Wired, June 12 1998.Freerockload.ucoz. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  37. ^Napoli L. Fans of MP3 forced the issue. "The New York Times", December 16 1998.Nytimes. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  38. ^Alternate Kinds of Freedomby Troels Just. Troelsjust.dk. Archived on 2014-09-03.
  39. ^Schulman BM. The song heard 'round the world: The copyright implications of MP3s and the future of digital music. "Harvard Journal of Law and Technology" 12: 3, 1999.Archived2012-04-09 at theWayback Machine.(PDF). Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  40. ^Samudrala R. The future of music. 1997.Ram.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  41. ^Story of a Revolution: Napster & the Music Industry. "MusicDish", 2000.(PDF). Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  42. ^Brett Watson (1999-02-10)."Philosophies of Free Software and Intellectual Property".Retrieved2016-02-24.Is Software special? [...] So restricting modification is not necessarily evil when it comes to "articles and books"? Or does he just mean that we aren't obliged to let others misrepresent us? Alas, no mention of restricting verbatim duplication. Even Stallman's story on "The Right to Read" does not address the issue directly, despite being about IPR issues other than software. It extrapolates a dystopian future from our current position and acts as a warning about current trends, but offers no comment on the status quo. [...] There is a striking lack of discussion from the usual leaders with regards to the application of copyright in areas other than software. Raymond is mute, and Stallman mumbles. They both seem to view software as a special case: Raymond tacitly, and Stallman explicitly.
  43. ^Richard Stallman -- On "Free Hardware"on linuxtoday "I see no social imperative for free hardware designs like the imperative for free software." (Jun 22, 1999)
  44. ^Pearce, Joshua M. (2012)."The case for open source appropriate technology".Environment, Development and Sustainability.14(3): 425–431.Bibcode:2012EDSus..14..425P.doi:10.1007/s10668-012-9337-9.
  45. ^Stallman, Richard(2009)."Ending the War on Sharing".
  46. ^Boot up: Google and Facebook work on antiphishing tool, Richard Stallman on MegaUpload arrests, and moreonThe Guardian(January 30, 2012)
  47. ^Correcting The Guardian's paraphraseby Richard Stallman (Jan 22, 2012)
  48. ^Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?on fsf.org byRichard Stallman"Nonfree game programs (like other nonfree programs) are unethical because they deny freedom to their users. (Game art is a different issue, because it isn't software." (May 31, 2012)
  49. ^Hardware Designs Should Be Free. Here's How to Do ItbyRichard Stallmanonwired(03.18.2015)
  50. ^Keen, Andrew (May 16, 2006).Web 2.0; The second generation of the Internet has arrived. It's worse than you think.The Weekly Standard
  51. ^"Free Art Friday: A Global Art Movement Everyone Can Appreciate".Mic.21 March 2013.Retrieved2022-03-20.
  52. ^Roberts @donnovan_jade, Holly (7 April 2016)."Month-long art scavenger hunt, Free Art Movement, comes to Classic City".The Red and Black.Retrieved2022-03-20.
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