Policy Priorities for Advancing Access to Knowledge
The internet and the broader landscape of knowledge sharing are undergoing seismic shifts. The rise of artificial intelligence, the consolidation of digital platforms, and the increasing enclosure of information threaten the foundations of an open, equitable web. An open, equitable web is a prerequisite for a thriving creative commons.
For years, the open web functioned as a mostly reciprocal ecosystem: people shared, searched, learned, remixed, and built upon each other’s work. The CC licenses and legal tools, along with the practices of open advocates around the world, allowed this web to thrive as a commons. Today, that reciprocity is under strain. New technologies and concentrations of power risk turning an open web into an extractive one where value flows in one direction, away from creators, communities, and the public interest. In that version of the web, knowledge is only accessible to the few with the most resources, and the gains from new technologies built on the commons are only shared with large rightsholders.
We have always worked to ensure that knowledge can be shared freely and legally. Today, meeting that goal requires more than tools and licenses. It requires showing up where the future is being shaped and articulating clear, principled positions about how knowledge should flow in a rapidly changing world.
Our Policy and Advocacy Priorities
Our policy and advocacy work is grounded in a simple belief: the digital commons only thrives when people can access, use, and build on knowledge without unnecessary barriers.
This is why CC engages not only in traditional policy processes, but also in the wider debates that shape norms, expectations, and practices across the digital landscape. When we take a stance on an emerging issue, we’re doing so because the rules being defined now will determine whether the digital commons remains a commons at all.
Priorities
- Copyright that protects and expands the commons
- Safeguarding and growing the public domain
- Public access to publicly funded knowledge
- Open data and responsible data governance
- A thriving commons in the age of AI
How We Show Up
Setting the Agenda Through Public Advocacy
We publish position papers, briefs, and analysis that help clarify what’s at stake and offer principled paths forward. When emerging technologies disrupt longstanding norms, we articulate what a pro-commons future should look like.
→ Read more about our positions informing how we advocate for copyright that protects the commons
→ Read more about our positions informing how we advocate for sharing in the age of AI
Strengthening a Global Community Through Capacity Building
As a civil society organization working in support of the public interest, we strive to ensure our community is included in the conversations that are shaping the future of sharing and access. We provide issue briefs and other primers and offer trainings and information sessions to build capacity on these topics within the CC global community.
→ Read the latest Issue Briefs
Engaging Where Decisions Are Being Made
We participate directly in legislative, regulatory, and policy processes, at national, regional and international levels, offering expertise, responding to consultations, making interventions, and shaping the frameworks that govern knowledge and creativity.
→ Read a selection of our recent submissions.
Partnerships and Coalition Building
We work in partnership with like-minded organizations to collaboratively advance policy priorities.
COMMUNIA Association for the Public Domain
Access to Knowledge Coalition of research, education and cultural heritage institutions
C4C – Coalition for Creativity
Join Us
We believe now is the moment to engage, to influence, to articulate a vision for an open future, and to ensure that the digital commons remains a place where creativity and knowledge can flourish.
Your expertise, your voice, and your participation matter. Together, we can advance access to knowledge for everyone and safeguard the commons for the generations that follow.