Politics & Governance / Law & Institutions / Civil, Commercial & Corporate Law

How Copyright Broke the Internet (And the Genius Hack That Fixes It)

Open Content Licensing: From Theory to Practice

Lucie Guibault

Every click, upload, and meme you share online is trapped in a century-old legal maze designed for corporate gatekeepers, not digital creators. What if the very laws meant to protect your work are actively destroying the open internet? Based on the groundbreaking legal research in 'Open Content Licensing: From Theory to Practice' edited by Dr. Lucie Guibault, an internationally recognized scholar in copyright and intellectual property law at the University of Amsterdam, this presentation reveals how automated copyright rules turned our digital commons into corporate tollbooths. Here is what you will discover inside this breakdown: Slide 1: The Invisible Trap. You think you own your photos and posts. In reality, traditional copyright locks everything down automatically for your entire life plus 70 years, paralyzing creative remix culture. Slide 2: The Paywall Racket. How academic publishing forces taxpayers to pay three times for research while publishers reap profit margins higher than tech giants. Slide 3: Legal Judo. Why Richard Stallman created copyleft and the GPL, turning the monopoly power of copyright against itself to build unstoppable open software. Slide 4: The Open Content Crisis. Why spreading open licenses into music, art, and textbooks triggered a new Tower of Babel where free works become legally incompatible. Slide 5: The Non-Commercial Illusion. Why slapping an NC badge on your creative project often hurts independent creators while failing to stop big corporations. Slide 6: Reclaiming the Commons. How modern open content licenses offer a practical blueprint to keep human culture shared, accessible, and free. Watch this breakdown to understand the secret legal mechanics of the internet and learn how to protect and share your creative work properly.