Creative Commons FUD

It was meant to happen sooner or later. Creative Commons is now a target of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). The Register has this interesting comment on a panel debate discussing CC licences. According to the report, the ex-chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Fran Nevrkla, described CC licences as the product of “learned professors living in rarified luxurious environment supported by public funds”. He has obviously been to my office (note the tone of irony and bitterness in my typing). Emma Pike, the director of British Music Rights even recommended musicians to use Kazaa rather than Creative Commons. Somebody must be afraid. Mind you, this is the same Emma Pike who wrote this, where we are told that the only musicians who should ever consider CC are hobbyists, Gilberto Gil and David Byrne.

Something that bothers me about these types of attacks is that they are uninformed, and based on the assumption that there is something wrong with people who are willing to offer their work under different conditions to the same old proprietary model that only benefits a few lucky creators. I think that some of these industry-types are truly baffled by those who do not want to live their lifestyle an continue to accept the myths about the struggling writer and the garage band that will be affected if we don't have more IP protection.