copyright issues

As long as the majority of my sources will be self-generated or provided by different state institutions, then I would guess that my copyright problems will hopefully be minor issues. Although, you never know how the dices will be arranged. As we've seen from the readings the dilemma of "to copyright or not to copyright" is a false dilemma and the researcher with all his non-profit desire is left to the mercy of a couple of greedy corporations.

Aside from these "wild capitalism" rules, there is also another issue of a special concern for me: It is clear that the copyright law applies to one's work even after "the death of the author", then what about the copyright conundrum of a dead state? For example, the documents, which I am going to use were mostly produced by now physically defunct, but still psychologically influential Soviet Union. By the logic of the field, I might say that all the content produced by former or present states is open to the use of the public.

Since in my focus on the first half of the 20th century, I am going to use also some primary sources, which were produced by some individuals there are concerns about their private lives. In this sense, referring to some diaries or letters by current survivors, I will try to reach them and to ask for their permission. Finally, while recognizing the premature nature of my gesture, I will apply a Creative Commons "Attribution Non-Commercial License" to my final product.