What does a totalitarian regime expect from its artists? Jane Portal explores the role of art in North Korea.

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The commons movement may be groundbreaking and innovative but as it hurtles towards a global model, it risks the privatisation of culture and a disregard for national boundaries, says David M Berry.

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When is a pirate not a pirate? When he's trying to get an education. Alan Story, Colin Darch and Debora Halbert track the course of the criminalisation of copyright infringement from western bedrooms to the university campuses of the developing world.

Tony Curzon Price, Becky Hogge and Sam Howard Spink are blogging from the iCommons iSummit in Rio this weekend, 23-25 June 2006 Creative Commons Creative Commons is an American charity founded by the radical libertarian legal scholar, Lawrence Lessig. Its aim is to help cultural creators give up some of their copyrights by creating the required legal framework of licenses. Why would a cultural creator do that? Because spreading a message, establishing and nourishing a reputation, having an audience, participating in the commonwealth of cultural production, may all be more important than the elusive royalty stream.

An enriching form of individual creativity and technology is inventing a new global space: the digital commons. Elizabeth Stark introduces a debate that explores the possibilities and challenges of a culture without borders - or owners.