Giving It Away (for Fun and Profit)

I'm not sure if the Creative Commons concept will catch fire the way some hope it might, but I do think it represents something very big about our culture: Giving It Away (for Fun and Profit)

Copyright rules were created to protect the artist from having their works stolen. It was primarilly a matter of trust - I don't trust you'll use my work and then pay me for it, so I've protected it with a copyright. However, the early success of this "shared economy" has shown that, at least in the world of the web, there seems to be a re-emergence of trust. Even more important, the trust isn't being betrayed - honest people are downloading music and books, trying them out, and paying for them. It's a win for everyone.

As a sidenote, I used a Creative Commons license on a book I gave away for free on the net. An experiment, more than anything. But a couple of copies were purchased after people had downloaded the entire book. Maybe there is something behind this business model after all.