Can Tpms Create a Commons? Looking at Whether and How Tpms and Creative Commons Licenses Can Work Together.

Abstract

The Common Information Environment (CIE) recently released a report concerning the possibility of using Creative Commons licenses for information produced by public sector bodies (Barker et al. 2005). One of the issues that came up during the study was the compatibility of Creative Commons (CC) licenses and Digital Rights Management technologies (referred to here as Technical Protection Measures). Many public sector bodies felt that password protection schemes were a practical necessity and would not consider CC if they could not place materials behind a password. This article expands upon the conclusion in the report that CC licenses do allow password schemes and considers a broader scope of TPMs. Though any organization or individual looking to implement TPMs on CC licensed content must tread carefully, TPMs can be used to enhance the attractiveness of CC licenses.

Keywords: Creative Commons, technical protection measures, digital rights management

JEL Classification: K39