Copyright group Creative Commons targets web users

A campaign has been launched to help people avoid breaking the law when they post pictures, music and videos online. Copyright group Creative Commons has published a guide to identifying material that can be used freely without getting sued. It is also advises individuals how to protect content they have made themselves. Some legal experts say that the system is a stop-gap measure and want to see copyright laws radically reformed. Around 500 million pieces of work are currently covered by Creative Commons. The free-to-use legal licenses add a range of protections to content. At one end of the scale, a rights holder can chose to share their property with anyone, and let them do what they like with it. Stricter versions of the licences protect material from being manipulated or used for commercial purposes. Creative Commons' chief of staff, Lisa Green said that the campaign was partly aimed at combating the myth that it supported "giving everything away for free". "Rather than giving away, mostly we talk about enabling legal sharing and enabling remix," she said. While many legal observers have praised the efforts of Creative Commons to make copyright more accessible, they point out that the system is not without its flaws. Creative Commons has also been criticised as a system which masquerades as creating a common pool of content, while leaving individual rights holders the ability to alter the terms of sharing at will.

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