This past Saturday was the fifth "birthday" of Creative Commons. For those of you who aren't familiar with CC, it is a license for sharing digital content that retains some of the rights for its creator. At the same time, it allows non-commercial use and distribution of the work as long as it is accompanied by attribution. There a CC primer here that's pretty entertaining and informative.

The much more interesting announcement that took place at the fifth birthday was that of a new, commercial license under Creative Commons, the CC+ license. It would allow for , by my understanding, commercial use of creative work. Someone looking to use a photograph on Flickr for commercial use, for example, would be able to click through on the image and it would take them directly to an agency that would represent the artist. The could work out the terms of payment online and begin using the work immediately in their publication. The breadth of options for photographs for within a layout could expand considerable to include non-professional photographers who never imagine licensing their work.

Additional information about the Creative Commons non-profit organization who uphold these licenses can be found here. And a list of some places using CC can be found here.