Version 1.1 of the definition has been released. Please help updating it, contribute translations, and help us with the design of logos and buttons to identify free cultural works and licenses!

User talk:Mercury merlin/A modest proposal

From Definition of Free Cultural Works
< User talk:Mercury merlin
Revision as of 19:45, 5 November 2006 by Mercury merlin (talk | contribs) (initial commentary)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Commentary on ' a modest proposal'

For this piece I was thinking about the way all content is automatically restricted by default under present law, requiring the contortions of copyleft to allow authors the option to make content and derivatives of content they have produced free and unrestricted in the sense used by Freedom defined.

A modest proposal is an attempt to envisage a regime where all content was unrestricted by default, where any restrictions could only exist for a strictly limited time and where original authors retained the final say on disposition of the content after that time (through a non-transferable right of attribution), and also where original authors had the option available to declare content they produced forever common under permanent share-alike.

There is a little more unsaid, and further commentary I should make to explain why some of the provisions are written in the way they are. Perhaps I can also create a specific page for it within my user-space on the site for now, as well, to keep it by itself?

The overall intent of the proposal should be clear enough, however.