As noted elsewhere, the big anniversary party for Creative Commons happened last night in SF. A fancy new Flash movie (7mb) and some great discussion re CC's upcoming sampling license, internationalization of the project (the ICommons (iCommons? I-Commons?)), and, very excitingly, new searchability functions. Also, Adobe announced CC support in upcoming products.
Prof. Lessig spent part of his time on the podium discussing the "Ibex problem" - a reference to his own experience with a vitriolic troll in a Yale cyberlaw discussion forum, and its deleterious effects on community building. As CC gets bigger, there's a risk of it becoming a bigger target, and FUD could become a real issue. As an example, Lessig cited a nasty letter from the legal department of an unnamed recording company claiming (I'm paraphrasing) that the rights provided by CC were but a pale shadow of the rights provided under copyright law (which they are. aren't they? isn't that the point?) and ordering CC to cease contacting recording artists.
If record company lawyers are the Ibex problem, then CC seems pretty resistant, since its whole ethos is to work alongside, and not replace, copyright. If you want the broad rights provided under copyright, then go! Take them! They're yours! CC can continue. CC right now seems less resistant to possible Ibexes within the community, and here I'm thinking about creators who become dissatisfied with the terms under which they've licensed their work or with the outcome that licensing has had. What will happen if (when?) a photographer sees her CC-licensed photographs adorning some cruelly offensive web site or other publication? Will CC licensing continue to seem like a good idea? Will the community hold? I sure hope so.
NOTE: It occurred to me that readers might not know Ibex. Apparently it occured to Professor Lessig too, because here's the relevant excerpt [PDF] from Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace.