Creative Commons and public domain declarations

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alex Rousskov (rousskov at measurement-factory.com):

> Thanks for sharing this! Your original "second-hand" rendering of 
> Lawrence Lessig's comments got me a little worried. I am glad that 
> Lawrence Lessig's actual position on public domain matches CC actions 
> and my understanding.

Your understanding is that it's uncertain whether one can legally
declare a work to be in the public domain, and that it's uncertain what
the results would be in various jurisdictions if you did?  I certainly
don't remember your saying that.

That's what Lessig and I _both_ stated, and seems likely to be the
nature of CC's impending Web notation.  You seem to have had some problem
with what I said, though the substance of your problem was never clear.

Lessig's demurral was merely that he feels that the CC declaration 
form renders the would-be contributor's intent as clear and well-formed 
as he feels is possible.  The actual outcome would be in the hands of 
a judge -- or various judges, given the possibility of diverse outcomes
in different places.

> Adding a word of caution to CC pages dedicated to public domain (or 
> any contraversial legal document) is a good idea, of course.

And that is what I suggested.