“Our assumption is that we need high degrees of control. We’re frightened by openness and we tend to underestimate the amount of creative potential it can unlock.”

This assertion was made on the Radio 4 In Business programme by James Boyle, Professor of Law at Duke University, North Carolina and Chair of the Creative Commons Board. The theme of this week’s edition, titled Free for All, was open business models and copyright regimes. The programme, which also includes an extensive interview with Chris Anderson of Long Tail fame, provided a good general overview in non-technical terms to many of the key issues relating to business models based on open source software and the provision of “free” content and services. Details of the programme are available from the In Business home page and the podcast can be downloaded here.