The case for putting new creative work into the public domain

Peter Saint-Andre, Who's Afraid of the Public Domain?  A preprint, version 1.0, November 26, 2006.  Excerpt:

You know who you are. You like to write, compose, draw, paint, sculpt, photograph, perform, or engage in some other creative activity. You are what I call a creative individual.

Most people make five assumptions about creative individuals [and copyright]:

1. Creative individuals would not produce their works without the possibility of making money from them.
2. Creative individuals are endowed with the inalienable right to control who may copy or modify those works, since without that "copyright" they would not be able to make money from their creative output.
3. Copyright is a straightforward extension of physical property rights and therefore a creative work is a form of intellectual property.
4. To protect the rights of creative individuals, governments may legitimately prevent others from copying or modifying creative works.
5. It is only government-enforced copyright that keeps a creative work safe from the ravages of violation and abuse; when it is no longer so protected, it lapses into a fearsome state of desuetude and disregard called the public domain.

These assumptions seem as natural as the air we breathe. I know, because I made them, too....Yet slowly but surely I began to question those assumptions. Eventually I overcame completely my fear of the public domain. Although I place all my works in the public domain, I know that the decision to do so is not easy. I've written this essay to share my conclusions....