Last October we submitted an initial proposal to get CC license symbols into Unicode. Since then we’ve gotten some feedback from them, incorporated that into our thinking, and submitted an updated application.

Here is the new proposal. (The old one for reference here.) The new proposal presents the CC license icons as graphic symbols. We’ve discussed a bit how trademark rights come into play and think we’ve come up with an inclusive approach that permits public access to the graphic symbols, without affecting the trademark rights in the specific icons. This is similar to how companies like IBM have managed their marks with Unicode.

We also asked the public some questions about how you currently mark works with CC licenses. We thought you’d be interested in the results so here are some very simple graphs that show those results (disclaimer: I am not a data analyst). Of the 709 responses, it seems that more than half (441) use the CC license icons or buttons to indicate the license on a work. Many more (681) said they would also like to be able to use the CC license icons in text (Unicode!) to indicate the CC license. Good news—we’re working on addressing your concerns. Fingers crossed that our new proposal will be accepted by Unicode. Thanks for all your support!

 

The post Our Proposal to add CC Symbols to Unicode, Round 2 appeared first on Creative Commons.

We need your help!

Over the next year, we will be investigating and reporting on 2-3 of the most compelling stories about collaboration in the commons. We want to tell the story of when and why a creator first decides to use CC, the kinds of connections they make online, how they invite and encourage collaboration, and what makes them feel like they are valued for their work and part of a community. We’re looking for stories that are similar to the 2016 State of the Commons, but deeper, getting at the heart of what really drives collaboration online.  

This is part of our prosocial work, which you can read about in this post:

“We are broadening our focus to look more holistically at sharing and collaboration online. We will investigate the values and behaviors associated with successful collaboration, in the hopes that we might apply them to content platforms where CC licensing is taking place, thereby enhancing the experience of sharing with CC.”

Fill out this short form (it takes 3 min to complete). We are asking for story leads — not fully fleshed out stories — so don’t worry about having enough material for a case study. We plan to contact, interview, and follow these creators or projects over the next year. So if you can think of 1-2 compelling leads, please share!

We are prioritizing the following fields:

• 3D printing
• Arts & Culture
• Media & Journalism

The form will be open for submissions through 15 August, 2017. Looking forward to your ideas. Contact us with any questions!

The post We want your story ideas about collaboration in the commons appeared first on Creative Commons.

We are proud to announce that the 2018 CC Summit will be in Toronto, Canada from April 13-15. This is a return to Toronto, which allows us to build on last year’s successful sold-out event. As part of our new strategy, CC has moved to annual summits to help build our community capacity and momentum, and we’re thrilled to be bringing people together again to support global collaboration and action.

For the 2017 Summit, CC selected Toronto as our location, and underscored a strong commitment to presenting a community-driven event. We divided up the work: CC provided the “container” — venue, catering, audio-visual, website, promotion, travel support, and other logistics — and the community “filled it” with the program, people, activities, and discussions that make our movement vibrant and engaging. It’s a busy season for conferences, but we’ve been able to fit into the timeline between other key community events like RightsCon and the Open Knowledge Festival.

Based on what we learned at the CC Summit in Seoul in 2015, we hired a full-time events manager to run logistics and ensure we had a world-class event. We also re-focused our scholarship funds to ensure we helped as many community members as possible to join us.

The improvements were noticeable and profound:

• 42 community members led the development of the program, and selected over 100 sessions, with a mix of long standing community members and brand new participants
• The conference sold out well in advance, with nearly 400 registered participants — our largest summit ever
• We had five incredible international women scheduled as keynotes (4 in the end due to a late-cancelled flight), and not a single all-male panel
• Nearly 60 percent of our scholarship funding supported African and Latin American region participants. We doubled the number of participants from Africa

As we plan for 2018, we have decided to return to Toronto. There are a variety of factors that make it a great destination along with some additional factors to consider. We expect Summit 2018 will exceed 500 participants, and also host the first meeting of the new Global Network Council. We want to build and iterate on what we learned in Toronto about running a great and inclusive event. The Canadian dollar continues to be low, which increases our purchasing power. The Delta Hotel, which did a spectacular job for us, is available to host us again. Many of the participants who got visas have them for terms long enough to permit a return next year. Finally, in this year of transition, there are very few teams that have the capacity to deliver an event of this size in just 11 months without significant support from CC HQ — most teams are (rightly) focused on their core work, not event planning.

With all of these considerations, we are very excited to return to Toronto, Canada for the CC Summit, scheduled for April 13-15, 2018.

Historically, CC has located the Summit at various venues around the world — Boston, Rio de Janeiro, Dubrovnik, Sapporo, Warsaw, Buenos Aires, Seoul. There are advantages and challenges of this solution. I’m excited about the opportunity to build on what we learned in 2017 — to iterate and remix the city for an even better event.

That said, this year’s decision to return to Toronto does not preclude the idea of future Summits being hosted in other locations. We expect the Global Network Council to help us think through our options for future summits. Many of you provided helpful criticism and feedback based on Toronto’s event. We’ll make a strong effort to incorporate those comments in our planning as we iterate and improve for the next event. In particular, several of you asked for more affordable hotel options. We’ll be adding a second conference hotel to ensure you have more choices.

As with 2017, CC will provide the “container” and the community will “fill it” with its energy, activities, and momentum. We’ll be opening a call for the planning committee in the coming months, and welcome your ideas for an even bigger, better, inclusive event. We can’t wait.

Photo: Sebastiaan ter Burg, CC BY 2.0

The post Join us in Toronto: Creative Commons Global Summit 2018 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Imposing a mandatory and unwaivable compensation scheme violates the letter and spirit of open licensing.

Copyright policymakers in Europe and South America have proposed legislation that would impose an unwaivable right to financial remuneration for authors and performers on copyrighted works. The laws attempt to ensure that creators receive payment for their work, but they would interfere with the operation of Creative Commons licensing by adding a special and separate economic right above and beyond the intention of some authors who wish to share their creative works with the world for free.

In short, these unwaivable rights would damage or break the global standard mechanism for sharing content freely and openly online.

Copyright automatically extends to every work of original authorship fixed in some tangible medium of expression—from paint on canvas, a digital photo on a smartphone, or a mindless scribble on a napkin. Copyright attaches to a work whether or not the creator wants it, and protection extends to literary, musical, and dramatic works, as well as photographs and graphics, audio and visual recordings, and software.

We know that many creators feel that the default rules of copyright are too restrictive. The Creative Commons licenses are a standardized and legally sound tool for creators to grant permission in advance for the public to use works in ways that the law otherwise forbids. When creators choose to share, it is a gift to the world, allowing anyone to build and create on top of their works. To date the CC licenses have been used to share more than 1.2 billion works, which are downloaded and reused tens of millions of times a day, creating an expansive digital commons of works that anyone can view, use, and enjoy.

It’s clear that digital technologies and the web have dramatically altered—and continue to change—the ways creative content is produced and shared. The proliferation of new content distribution mechanisms, social media platforms, and crowdfunding services have fueled innovation in the way authors, artists, and performers connect with fans and are paid for their creative work.

Recently, there has been an increasing call by rightsholders and intermediaries to use copyright as the means to ensure that authors and performers can earn adequate compensation for their creative works, even after those creators have transferred their rights to publishers, or film or music producers. For example, in the context of the EU copyright reform legislation, the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament has introduced amendments that would impose an unwaivable right to remuneration for authors and performers. This right would apply to all works, even those published voluntarily under an open license. Last year Chile passed a similar law that applies to authors of audiovisual works.

Unfortunately, these solutions are ill-suited to address the core business and labor issues at hand. Instead, they seek to use copyright as the mechanism to remedy the inequity in the bargaining position of creators in relation to rightsholders. These unwaivable remuneration schemes may be well-intentioned, but they have significant unintended consequences because they reduce the overall flexibility of how copyright can be exercised. An unwaivable right to compensation would interfere with the operation of open licensing by reserving a special and separate economic right above and beyond the intention of some authors.

Creative Commons has taken the position that these types of regulations would create unnecessary complexity for those who wish to share their works under our licenses because they would deny creators the choice to share as they wish. All Creative Commons licensors permit their works to be used for at least non-commercial purposes. When an author applies a CC license to her work, she grants to the public a worldwide, royalty-free license to use the work under certain terms. And many authors simply want to share their creativity freely under open terms to benefit the public good. For example, educators and scholarly researchers create and share works primarily to advance education and to contribute to their field of study—not necessarily for financial remuneration.

We support authors and creators, and we firmly believe in their right to choose to share, or to seek compensation for all or some uses of their works. At the same time, we must find solutions that also honor those authors who choose to share with few or no restrictions. Mandatory and unwaivable compensation schemes violate the letter and spirit of Creative Commons licensing, and they’re a poor substitute for more meaningful and lasting change in service of fair remuneration for those working in the creative industries today.

The post Should copyright law deny creators the right to share freely? Let the authors choose. appeared first on Creative Commons.

Tell the FCC to protect net neutrality today

Creative Commons and dozens of the world’s largest web platforms are joining countless internet users and online communities to take action in support of net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should treat all online data the same, and not discriminate or charge different amounts for different audiences.

There are over 1 billion CC-licensed works online, shared freely with anyone with access to the internet. The majority of these works are hosted on content platforms such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Internet Archive, Flickr, and Vimeo. What if you couldn’t access your favorite works because your ISP wants you to see instead content they’re getting paid to promote? What if the video that you created and uploaded online is slowed so others can’t watch it? We know that Creative Commons licensing is only one factor in a healthy open internet ecosystem. A strong digital commons requires universal access to basic digital infrastructure, and enforceable rules that promote fair competition and freedom of information.

In the United States net neutrality is under attack. Even with massive public pushback, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai wants to reel in the net neutrality rules put in place in 2015. If Pai’s proposed changes are adopted, the FCC will give companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T increased control over what users can see and do on the internet, with the power to slow down or block websites and charge apps and sites extra fees to reach an audience.

Today the internet comes together to support and protect net neutrality. Learn more and join the action here: https://www.battleforthenet.com/.  

The post Battle For the Net: A Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality appeared first on Creative Commons.