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I had hoped my recent blog on Creative Commons and legal aid content (link) would generate some discussion. Something like, "What a good idea. Let's do it." or "Another dumb idea from Calkins. We should be selling this stuff to support our web sites." But, nothing -- digital silence.

So, I was glad to see a more radical idea from BoingBoing guest blogger Jesse Brown -- All publicly funded content should be in the public domain.  I don't actually buy Brown's idea totally, but the public pays for those of us who work with publicly funded legal aid organizations to develop this material. What right do we have to use copyright law to claim that the public can't use it.

To be sure, we have an obligation as attorneys and legal organizations to see that our content doesn't mislead people or become outdated. That extra obligation is easily met, though, by insisting that the content be dated (It should be anyhow.) and that it not be modified without our being able to review and approve any modification. Creative Commons provides exactly the vehicle for doing that.

So, enough rambling and ranting. What does it take to get a few of you legal aid web gurus to put a Creative Commons copyright on your websites, or at least on your client education materials? It's easy. It doesn't hurt. In fact it feels good.