Copyleft

As other blog posts have gone over copyright laws and issues, I decided to focus my attention on learning more about copyleft.  In its simplest form, copyleft is a general method for making a program or other works free, in the sense that if gives users freedom to change or modify it, and requires all modified and extended of the program to be free itself.  GNU Operating System has been very influential in promoting the use of copyleft.

Copyleft is very important for users who want to spread their content.  Individuals who make content and put it into public domain uncopyrighted seems like a good way to get around copyright laws.  But, if it’s uncopyrighted, anyone can modify and/or expand that content, and are allowed to sell it, and users who buy it do not have the same freedom to modify it.  This is where copyleft comes in.  As GNU explains, instead of putting software or content in public domain, the user will copyleft it.  In doing so, the content or software can spread.  Users who modify the program must pass along the same freedom to further modify or change the program to other users, and so forth.

Therefore, it appears copyleft may encourage more creativity since the content can be modified by anyone.  Programmers who want to contribute to improvements or changes are free to do so.  And it is still illegal under the law for users to make changes and then sell it for a profit. 

It is important to realize the copyright laws still exist under copyleft.  By copylefting content, however, users are able to decide how freely they want their content to spread.  I honestly like the idea of copyleft because it allows the creator to decide what he or she wants, while giving more freedom to users that pure copyright laws don’t.  But what are your thoughts?  Is copyleft the way to go as an alternative to copyrighting content?