There is an interesting article in the Washington Post titled “Creative Commons is Rewriting Rules of Copyright“. While most of the content shouldn’t be anything new to the majority of readers, if it IS new, it’s an accessible piece that gives a decent overview of the work of the Creative Commons. If you don’t have an account for the Washington Post, I suggest using BugMeNot to get around the compulsory web registration.

Pay note the following passages:
“… art has always been about stealing, recycling and mixing: Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were said to borrow from each other’s brushwork. The 1990s hit “Clueless” with Alicia Silverstone was a modern-day adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma.'”

“Technology has given the world an unprecedented ability to digitize works, copy them, take them apart and put them back together again. But Lessig said he worries that the extension of copyright laws is keeping many works out of the public domain, hampering creativity.”

“Lessig‘s goal with Creative Commons was to create a body of digital work, which he calls “artifacts of culture,” for the public domain, accessible to all.”

Like I said, not much new here. But for those that are just getting to know the Creative Commons (like many of my ECMP students), these are important, basic ideas.