I watched the video clip, A Shared Culture, and explored the New Zealand Creative Commons website and then checked the icon to discover that our CC is described as Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand, the details of which can be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nz/ - this shows exactly what will appear on the licence. The website itself gives more than enough information to reassure the creator/s that his/her/their work will be made available only as they determine.
I like the concept because the creator of any work owns the copyright but is given the opportunity to exercise that copyright in any way they choose, thus making information which would normally take a long time to acquire via normal copyright channels, available to anyone wishing to use the information for whatever reason they may wish.
Misgivings? Not really because it is about the freedom to choose what you do with your brainchildren. If you prefer to sell them, then copyright protects you, and if you want to share them or give them away, Creative Commons will help you to do so.
All that does worry me, however, is that inexperienced, naive and idealistic young writers, composers, inventors etc, may inadvertantly give away potentially lucrative ideas that The Big Boys will grab and utilize to their own advantage if the creators are not being advised by professional copyright lawyers.
It is a known fact that any creative idea or item can be taken, changed slightly and then palmed off as another person's creation. We only have to look at the billion dollar industry that is expanding globally with imitation luxury goods being sold over the internet, not to mention sites that will write your essays, papers and theses for you, as well as provide you with university degree certificates, and even birth certificates, passports etc. - if you are prepared to pay enough! Its all about money.
It seems as though I am doomed to play the Devil's Advocate, but experience does tend to make one wary of the glib call to share and share alike. It reminds me of committee meetings where someone will put forward a Good Idea that will improve whatever it is that is being done, and that it is turned down, only to emerge at a later date as a fait accompli by another member of the committee, the kudos going to someone who didn't have the idea in the first place! And thus brainchildren are stolen.
Maybe with Creative Commons one can record one's Bright Idea first and then make it public at the committee meeting, pointing out to the people there that it is in fact your brainchild and that it may be used but that the kudos has to accrue to you!
So, yes, it would appear that Creative Commons is A Good Thing!
The Flickr photo that I chose is a wonderfully colourful and creative collage made out of 4000 Creative Common logos. There are some copyright constraints but it is free to be downloaded. To be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/qthomasbower/3640362081/sizes/l/
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