Creative Commons

At a time of geopolitical uncertainty and tightening resources, digital public goods showed what is possible through shared, open approaches. The 2025 State of the Digital Public Goods Ecosystem Report captures a year of growth, real-world impact, and renewed collective action—and where further collaboration is needed next. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/dnP5d9vQ  Digital Public Goods Alliance #DPG #DigitalPublicGoods #DPGA #2025DPGEcosytemReport

In response to large AI models’ extractive relationship with web content, new approaches to governing machine access are emerging. But all of these approaches are predicated on being able to distinguish between different forms of machine use. Our newest issue brief describes why a common vocabulary for machine use is needed but proving difficult to achieve, and where definitions are currently being debated.

If you're headed to SXSW, we'd love to see you! Find Anna Tumadóttir and hear more about CC's work at two events while you're in Austin: AI & Creative Capital: Consent, Governance, and the Future of the Open Web March 13 | 2:00-6:00 CT CC, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, and EFF-Austin present an exploration of sharing in the age of AI, the future of the open web, and creativity in AI-driven markets, featuring Kayvan Ghaffari, Anna Tumadóttir, Alex Haskell, Arun Sundararajan, and others! Register: https://buff.ly/feHE4d1 The Knowledge Paradox: When Does Sharing Become Theft? March 14 | 2:30-3:30 CT As Creative Commons marks our 25th anniversary, we confront a question: how do we keep knowledge open without enabling its exploitation? The Siegel Family Endowment presents this panel featuring sam seidel, Anna Tumadóttir, and Lisa Watts. Register: https://lnkd.in/gmxFApXG

Do you want to be more involved with CC? Connect with others who share your passion for sharing? Geek out on data governance? Stay up to date on conversations in the open movement? Join the CC community! Fill out this easy form to be added to our community platform, Zulip, and subscribe to CC's newsletter.

On March 2, CC and Internet Archive Europe, together with the support of Open Nederland, hosted an event entitled “Ensuring equitable access to heritage in the digital environment: A leading role for the Netherlands on the global stage.” With open heritage gaining momentum as a way to help address global challenges, the event was an opportunity to elevate Dutch good practices to the international level. In our newest blog post, we offer a recap of the dynamic discussions from the event and share the importance and impact for CC. https://buff.ly/hswr6YE

CC is heading to SXSW! If you'll be there as well, we'd love to see you at these events: AI & Creative Capital: Consent, Governance, and the Future of the Open Web March 13 | 2:00-6:00 CT Creative Commons, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, and EFF-Austin are delighted to present a fascinating exploration of who gets to share and benefit in the age of AI; how governance choices, incentives and norms are shaping the future of the open web; and how artists, writers and communities are shaping models that keep culture, creativity and human voices central as AI-driven markets evolve. Register: https://buff.ly/feHE4d1 The Knowledge Paradox: When Does Sharing Become Theft? March 14 | 2:30-3:30 CT For decades, the open movement championed sharing as the path to knowledge equity. But AI weaponizes that openness, what was built to democratize knowledge now trains models that concentrate power and profit. Open data scraping. Closed model development. Free content fueling extraction. As Creative Commons marks our 25th anniversary, we confront a difficult question: how do we keep knowledge open without enabling its exploitation? The Siegel Family Endowment presents this panel featuring Lawrence Lessig, Anna Tumadóttir, and Lisa Watts. Register: https://lnkd.in/gmxFApXG

The infrastructure phase of AI governance has begun. Recently, CC attended the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, and what became clear is that AI governance is shifting. The conversation is moving beyond high-level principles and into harder, more structural questions about infrastructure, stewardship, and power. At the Summit, openness was not framed as a philosophical preference but as a structural necessity and a baseline condition for equity, competition, collaboration, and democratic accountability. Read our reflection on the biggest takeaways from Delhi and what we believe is CC's critical role in filling a global implementation gap.

Did you know that less than 1% of the world’s institutions share heritage in open access? With many elements of documentary heritage remaining behind paywalls and digital locks, people are denied a meaningful connection with their heritage. In this article in the International Journal of Documentary Heritage, our Open Culture team provides an overview of the main barriers to equitable access to public domain heritage in the digital environment, makes the case for openness as a key principle in the preservation and dissemination of documentary heritage, and shares examples of positive reuse enabled by open heritage.

Be a part of our commemorative 25th Anniversary CC zine! We're looking for personal, political, playful, critical, messy, poetic, or practical works that explore the theme "Remix is Resistance." Photos, poems, comics, collage, QR codes that link to music...we want it all! Submissions are open until the end of the month: https://buff.ly/WD9zrID

Upcoming Events in March! AI & Creative Capital: Consent, Governance and the Future of the Open Web | March 3 | 16:00 EST https://buff.ly/fwoJlIC Open Education Week Live: Open Conversation on Online Communities | March 5 | 11:00 EST https://buff.ly/pjFFSck CC Community Office Hours | March 20 | 12:00 EST https://buff.ly/znHGYd3 CC Legal Office Hours | March 30 | 11:00 EST https://buff.ly/5SLwEoZ