The Open Internet

"Commercialization" is a broad term that encompasses the general move from a sphere dominated by the publics to a space dominated by propriety influences.

Public versus Proprietary Spaces

The notion of public property goes back far; in the United States, modern copyright law and intellectual property (IP) laws have their beginning in the U.S. constitution. Article 1, Section 8, clause 8 reads:

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

In its current form, the U.S. copyright law protects creative works for the duration of the author's (or authors') life plus 70 years.