Worried about someone taking your online works of art?  How many of you are familiar with Creative Commons licensing?

Visit Creative Commons and view their About page at: http://creativecommons.org/about/.

They offer tools and services, and some interesting opinions to consider when you create something. You can reserve some rights, put your work in the public domain, or even replicate a copyright as it was first introduced. I found this site very educational.  While Creative Commons is intended to protect certain rights of creation, the primary role of the CC license is to foster proper distribution and attribution of content. In other words, CC seeks to expand works rather than limit works.

Basically, copyright is used to tell someone to ask permission before using certain material. A Creative Commons license is more of a notice that your content can be used, but a polite request to let the content owner know that you will be using their content.  Creative Commons is voluntary for content creators who want to publicly clarify their rights independently of existing copyright law. One a content creator chooses and posts a CC license, it would not be likely they would dispute their choice in the future.

Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the license. This means that if Bob has a copy of your Creative Commons-licensed work, Bob can give a copy to Carol and Carol will be authorized to use the work consistent with the Creative Commons license. You then have a license agreement separately with both Bob and Carol.

On the Internet, it is wise to clarify use and restrictions in lay terms, but also in terms with legal meaning, and meaning to search engine spiders. This approach acknowledges the reality or content in the modern age more so than traditional copyright law.

The CC licensing seems to be much more feasible in our "wired" society. The CC licensing seems to be a quick way to address content ownership issues. In our times of instant messaging, blogging and Web streaming, I can see how CC licensing would be utilized.

What do you all think about this new approach to copyrights?