“So You Want to Create Content: Licenses, Copyrights, and Other Things to Think About” by Luckey, Morris and Silberman

Licensing in the digital world once meant deciding between open and proprietary licenses. Later, producing free content meant deciding between “free as in beer” and “free as in speech.” Today, there is a vast array of licensing and copyright schemes, each with a different view of what’s protected and what’s not. Why do we need so many schemes? Are they really useful? Do you understand the difference between copyleft and Creative Commons?

More schemes are coming, most notably the new GPL version 3. Why create a new licensing scheme? What’s left out of today’s schemes that tomorrow’s will cover? As software developers and content creators, should we “share the wealth” or “protect our wealth?”