Flickr Creative Commons Licensing
You want to choose amazing, eye catching images to include on your shared hosting website. Be careful: you can't just go around stealing images you find on the Internet. This could lead to copyright infringement! This doesn't mean you have to go out there and take your own pictures though, so don't worry. Just seek out images licensed by Creative Commons!
Let's take a look at the logistics of a Creative Commons license and what it all means so that you can feel confident when placing images that aren't your own up on your website.
Flickr Creative Commons Licensing: What Is It?
Creative Commons offers users a way to share their work with the world and set up their own copyright terms. There are six licenses in all, each one granting different permissions as to how it can be used legally. The content owner remains the owner, but others may use it for themselves as long as rules laid out by the license are followed.
Flickr Creative Commons Licensing: Why?
With anyone able to easily start up a website or manipulate and share content via the Internet, the rules had to change. Prior to the Internet, how did people see content? A third-party had to get involved, for instance, a publisher. The old “all rights reserved” method just doesn't apply in today's world. People want to set up their own terms on the content they've worked hard to create.
Flickr Creative Commons Licensing: The Different Licenses
The process of licensing your work is simpler than you think. There are four basic conditions to choose from, and you can apply any combination of conditions to your work:
- Attribution: others are able to use your content all they like, as long as they give you credit as the creator.
- Noncommercial: others are able to use your content all they like, as long as they aren't making any money from it.
- No derivative works: others are able to use your content exactly as it is written. No one can create their own version.
- Share alike: others are granted permission to share derivative works as long as they use a license just like yours.
As I stated, these all combine in different ways to make the actual licenses:
- Attribution (by): The most relaxed of licenses. This means that anyone can do anything they would like with your work as long as they attribute you.
- Attribution Share Alike (by-sa): This license requires those who alter the original content to not only attribute you as the creator, but to license their newly created content under an identical license.
- Attribution Non-commercial (by-nc): Others are able to alter your content for non-commercial purposes as long as they attribute you as the creator. They are not responsible for obtaining a license on the altered content.
- Attribution No Derivatives (by-nd): Users must use the content the way it is, and may not alter it, as long as the work is attributed to the creator. It can be used for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
- Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa): Others may alter your work as long as it is for non-commercial purposes if they give credit to you as the creator and utilize the exact same license.
- Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd): Content may not be altered in any way, and can only be shared for non-commercial purposes. Credit must be granted to the creator.
Do you have a better understanding of Creative Commons? We'd love to answer any questions you have regarding this topic, so comment below!
