Open Source

Through the World Wide Web, some information is given to us to see called an 'open source'. This allows us to see all the code to a website as long as owners and the servers that are used allow us to view it. In this source code, everything that makes the website is shown, including everything the user can see i.e. the layout, titles, colour and things that they cannot such as the functionality of the site, how a page would link us to another page once we click on a button. Open source material is difficult to use in some ways as their code can easily be taken to use for another users site. This is where copyright and intellectual properly comes into play.

Information can be used without permission if it is used as fair use. Fair use "s a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the copyright holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship."(Wikipedia). If users follow the fair use rule, they will be allowed to use the material on other websites. If it is used for their own personal use, there is a high chance that they can face legal action as the information/data used is not their own.

Creative Commons is an idea that was developed by Lawrence Lessig. It is described as " a word in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise and modernation - once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally - have become endangered species. Creative Commons is working to revive them. We use private rights to create public goods: creative works sets free for certain users" (Creative Common website)

From this we can see that although sites are free to see they can have strong repecusions if they are used incorrectly. Creative Commons allows users to use data depending on the reason so that it does not have to go through legal action. It has become a lot more convinient for users and companies as they dont have to worry about who is using their site for the wrong reasons.

What is CC?