Yes, Harold. Today we pay a levy for blank CD's. But until SOCAN successfully lobbied the government for the levy, the de facto standard was that ANY copy of a movie, album, tape or CD, even for personal use (ie: making a cassette tape of a record album so you could play the cassette in your car or walkman) was forbidden. I say forbidden rather than illegal because it was the industry and not any particular law that stated such. Fair dealings would imply it's okay, but the movie and recording industries said it wasn't. The blank tape/CD/DVD levy was simply a way of placating both sides while ensuring that the artists still received some compensation for all the "forbidden/illegal" copies floating around.

It wasn't my intention to refer to the CC proponents as either cheap or lazy, although I guess my original statement could be construed as such. I was referring instead to those who ignore copyright (or CC licences) altogether, without any concern for anyone but themselves. Creative Commons, like traditional copyrights, has its place - as I stated in my original post, I don't disagree with it.

But, that being said, there are those who would do away with copyright altogether in favour of Creative Commons which, effectively, removes some of the creator's rights to his or her own works. And, of course, there are those who simply don't give a damn about any law, they'll do as they please, thank you very much.

As the creator of any original work, I firmly believe that I am the only one who should decide how my works will be used. It's not up to anyone else - not the government, not large corporations, and not the end-user to make that determination for me.