A new Yahoo feature lets you search Creative Commons content—material copyrighted for availability for some reuse.
The test version of the feature launched March 24, linking to millions of Web pages featuring the unusual licensing agreements shepherded by Creative Commons, the nonprofit looking for newer ways to share creative works.
"Yahoo has defined itself as the thin layer of the Net that will make the Net's community come alive," said Creative Commons chairman Lawrence Lessig, in a Yahoo search blog entry. "It's first life made the Net findable. Its second life made the Net useable. Now Yahoo will give the Net tools to make its community come alive. The mix of extensions announced this past week to an already fantastic base will transform the Yahoo community into the most exciting mix on the Net. I am extremely happy that our work can help make this commons grow."
Lessig made the entry as he returned from the launch of Creative Commons in South Korea.
"Creative Commons will be just a piece -- a component -- designed to remove the uncertainty around what creators mean," he wrote, indicating the Yahoo deal will establish Creative Commons's legitimacy abroad. "Yahoo will gather this creativity into a community. Our component helps people be clear about the freedoms they intend to give, and the freedoms they can rely upon.
"As weird as this may sound -- I am extremely excited to be a component, a plug-in, that will make it easy for the community of creativity that Yahoo has committed itself to to take off," Lessig continued. "It will be the most important step in our project's success. It is proof of the kind of success Yahoo will continue to be."
Creative Commons touts licensing alternatives including attribution-only distribution (copyright holders let others copy, distribute, or display works if given due and visible credit). They have also called for greater flexibility in the patent area when it comes to sharing scientific data and discoveries, calling the current patent process too inflexible and awarding "too much protection" to ideas that are not as unique as the patent claimants like to think.
