WEEK 7 LECTURE

CULTURE IS NOT A CRIME

Today's lecture focused on the use of open source software and and creative commons licences. The movement of open source software was started by Richard M. Stallman in 1981. It was started to try and move the market of new technologies back to the good old days when it was allowable for source code to shared and reused for the benefit of the user. Unlike todays technology culture where source code is neither shared nor freely reused and is protected by stringent copyright laws.

This bring us then to the point, which illustrates the battle between itellectual property laws (which are lot of big companies thrive on) and the use of open source software or 'freeware'. It is the idea that any innovation must be made freely available to the benefit of everyone. But on the same token just because it is 'free' doesn't mean the software is available for anyone to claim. According to the creative commons Australia website states that, offering your work under a Creative Commons licence does not mean giving up your copyright. It means allowing more liberal use of your material, but only on certain conditions. Each Creative Commons licence comes with the same baseline user rights and restrictions. These allow the material to be copied, distributed and reused, at a minimum in its current form, for non-commercial purposes, and as long as the original creator/s are credited.

While most of us can be trusted to operate within the rules and regulations of copyright and/or the creative commons licences. There is always the bad apple in the group that these rules are made for. For we can't just stick our heads in the sand and say we didn't know anymore because under the copyright law that isn't a valid excuse anymore. Any way it's hard to claim ignorance when we are bombarded with the little copyright symbol everywhere we go or look. From signs and billboards to logos, text and music that little symbol stands as a silent protector to the use and distribution of everybody original work.

REFERENCE LIST

• Creative Commons Australia (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2010, from http://creativecommons.org.au/learn-more/licences


• Friedman, V. (2007). Copyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right? Retrieved September 12, 2010, from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/07/07/copyright-explained-i-may-copy-it-right/