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Ransom
A publishing model where copyrighted works (such as books, software, or music) remain proprietary until a total amount of money is collected or a certain date arrives, at which point the work is automatically freed to the public.
Problem
Although freedom for copyrighted works (such as old computer games, popular music, and engineering blueprints) is ultimately the best choice for users and society, and keeping them proprietary is the best choice for copyright authors who need a steady income to live well, there is currently no compromising option. Existing models do not work since they are not fair to all parties. Traditional proprietary models not only restrict the public's abilities and freedoms, but also ignore the enonomic laws of value in our modern digital age. Purely free models remove most opportunities for a reliable income for developers and leaves them to the whims of gifts and benefactors.
Mission
Ransom is the solution: the bridge that allows proprietary works to become free once the copyright holders have been fairly compensated for their effort. When creating free works can provide the financial security that everyone needs to live a good life, authors of proprietary works will switch, and existing authors of free works will be able to create more.
The Ransom project is a legal framework that can be
used by copyright Holders to safely and easily release
("Ransom") their proprietary Works for free public usage. It
will increase the number of authors creating free works by providing
the only remaining benefit of proprietary ownership: a reliable income.
Tasks
- Create a set of boilerplate legal clauses that can be used by any compatible proprietary copyright license in order to legally control how the Work will be "ransomed" to the public.
- Specify what free copyright licenses the Work can be freed under as an alternative to being released into the public domain.
Specification
In Ransom, the copyright Holder will publish their copyrighted Work under traditional Proprietary License terms, but with added legal Clauses that will eventually free the Work to the public. This freeing occurs automatically when either a Total amount of money has been collected by the Holder or an Expiration date arrives, whichever happens first. The Holder is legally bound to these rules, enforced by the Users, Liberators, or third-party Escrow Services of the Work using existing copyright laws.
The public gets free copyrighted Works and the Holders are fairly compensated for the real work they do, not the artificial amount of "copies" they sell. Public interests are protected by legally-binding contracts and organizational oversight.
Resources
- FAQs
- Frequently Asked Questions about the Ransom project and their Answers: Why the Name?, What about Vaporware?, Who Guarantees Honesty?, more...
- Scenarios
- Step-by-step analysis of how the Ransom model can be used in various situations: Publishing Normally.
- Links
- Links to sites that are somehow related to Ransom: more...
The
Ransom model is open to anyone to use, as long as they do not change or
otherwise alter the process, Ransom Clauses, or approved Free Licenses.
This is to prevent confusion, ensure quality integrity, and keep the
branding of the model safe.
Unresolved Issues
The Ransom model is not yet complete. There are still issues and details to be worked out.
Background
This project began as an idea from Eric Murphy, original developer of Jabberzilla, on how to finance the development of a digital identity system. Theo took the idea and posted to Crynwr's Free Software Business list about it, which received much feedback and resulted in this project.
