Copy, Right?
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that works to use privacy rights to create public goods–creative works set free for other creative works to use. Think of it as open-source for the creative soul. Here’s how it works: you create something you want to share with others (music, images, software, text) and mark it with a Creative Commons license. You determine the conditions upon which others can use your work. If you find materials with a Creative Commons license, you can use it them your work, within the limitations of the license.
On the Creative Commons website, you can find audio, image, video, text, and education materials that are fair game to use (per the licensing agreement of the licensor) for your own projects. You can look on Flickr for examples of artist willing to share their work under the Creative Commons license, too.
If you want to learn more about issues around copyrights in the modern era, check out Lawrence Lessig’s book, Free Culture.
