This thesis explores and explains the development of the Creative Commons (CC) as an alternative to mainstream copyright protection. it argues that the distinctive characteristics of CC as a license based, configurable form of meta-regulation can be explained by consideration of the disciplinary background of the movement's founder (Lawrence Lessig) and as a consequence of the particular mode of development it undertook (e-mail discussions as commonly used in the arena of software development rather than traditional legal discussion) as well as the influence of a variety of pre-exisiting regulatory forms.
The second part of the research reviews the inputs from multiple existing regulatory structures such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Content movement, and de-constructs the process by which the CC is developed in practice. The thesis analyzes the trajectory of CC from a licensing project to a political project, the structural elements of the CC licences and the decision making process of their creation and development.
This analysis helps to explain the apparent inconsistencies that have been expressed about the CC project and shows how Lessig's perspectives on regulation and meaning construction contribute to the empowerment of the creator and the attempt to provide regulatory tools instead of regulatory solutions.
The thesis argues that imbalances in the existing Copyright system are symptoms of deeper structural problems of distantiation of the regulated subject from the process of regulation construction. CC therefore becomes an effort to increase access to the regulatory process and as a result ignites the creation of the Commons. instead of the regulation to be enforcing its normative content on the creative practice over the Internet, the CC approach allows the reverse to happen. The intellectual or creative commons are thus achieved as a secondary result of the ability to access the regulatory commons
