Creative Commmons is Larry Lessig's lastest project; it's a set of reasonable terms for authors who think that copyright's restrictions are overkill. The Laboratorium has never been about wringing every last drop of financial value from my intellectual property. The things that I write here, I write to spur discussion and to encourage the flow of ideas and creativity on the Internet. I want people to pick up my ideas and build on them, just as I want to be able to build on the ideas of others.
Thus, in addition to the (increasingly puny) fair use "rights" guaranteed to you by copyright law, I want you, my readers and my friends, to have various other rights to my writings, rights that guarantee your ability to make your own creative uses of my words. If you copy what I write here and mail it to your friends, you are not infringing my copyright. We're cool. If you shout what I say here from a street corner, we're cool. If you turn my jokes back against me, we're cool. Go wild.
I'm setting a few basic conditions, spelled out in more detail on my policy page, at the Creative Commons site, and in the full legal license. Credit me as the author, don't make money off me, and share with others. These rules aren't absolutes; they're just a baseline. If you'd like some other arrangement, I'm sure we can work something out. The point of the Creative Commons License is that most of the time, for straightforward uses, you don't need to ask me first.
Share and enjoy.