Creative Commons and the General Public

I was struck at our users group meeting the other day just how 'foreign' the concept of creative commons is to many many people.

I was demonstrating some social networking stuff, facebook and this 'flickr feed'

Some of the audience members just couldn't get over the fact that people let their pictures show up in public like that. What if someone wants to steal them, or sell them for money or....

To me it's kind of obvious - it's a picture of my kids, or a piece of landscape. I don't own the rights to that piece of landscape, and if somebody else can profit on it, why not? I couldn't...

I was discussing real estate with an older cousin of mine once, and something he said has stuck with me for a long time now.

You can't own a piece of property, you just look after it for a while. It'll be here one way or another long after you and I are gone.

That's what CC is all about now isn't it....