"All knowledge all discoveries belong to everybody. ... All knowledge all discoveries belong to you by right. It is time to demand what belongs to you." -- William S. Burroughs

What is Copyleft?

"Copyleft," in the popular usage of the term, means "a copyright notice that permits unrestricted redistribution and modification, provided that all copies and derivatives retain the same permissions."

Basically, it is like a copyright, but with the purpose of EXTENDING the freedom of users, rather than RESTRICTING the freedom of users. When I copyleft a work, I give it freely to the world to be used, distributed, and modified. I also ensure the freedom of others down the line, by requiring that any modified versions of my work, or anything based on my work, must also be copyleft.

This has been going on since 1983 with the GNU Public License (GPL) for software. Releasing software under the GPL requires that you give out the source code freely, and that you allow unrestricted modification and use of the code. If a piece of software incorporates GPL code, the entire new piece of software must also be GPL. This ensures freedom far beyond the original creation. This has had an incredible effect on the software industry. Software development is accellerating, and reaching new levels of sophistication through SHARING of knowledge under GPL. Sourceforge.net currently hosts over 39,000 Open Source and GPL software projects! GPL software is what is driving the internet right now, and it is only growing. Linux is a written and distributed under the GPL. Apache, the worlds most popular and powerful web server (over 53% of internet servers use Apache) is distributed under the GPL License. When we SHARE our knowledge, everyone benefits.

To formalize the copyleft concept, and make it work within the legal confines of the current 'copyright' law, some legal stuff needs to be layed out. For software, the GPL is that legal document. For non-software, a document was developed by Michael Stutz called the Design Science License (DSL). This license can be applyed to any work that is machine reproduceable, without damage to the original. The full text of this license is HERE, and everything on these pages falls under this license. It looks like a lot of legal jibba-jabba, but please read it. Unlike those long licenses that Microsoft makes you skim through when you install software, this license is intended to GIVE you rights, not take them away!

For more information, visit dsl.org, homepage of Michael Stutz and the GNU Public License homepage.

"Intellectual Property" is being used to limit your freedom to learn. Knowledge is your RIGHT. Billions of people are being held down and controlled simply through restriction of information. If we change the way we think about information, then someday we can live in a society where all information is free, and we learn and share our knowledge to EVERYONE'S benefit. For now, we must fight back with legal and enforcable copyleft licenses such as the Design Science License. Please, set your information FREE with copyleft licenses such as the DSL. To apply the DSL to YOUR work, check out this article by Michael Stutz.