When you find a picture online that would be perfect for your project, it's hard to know whether you're allowed to use it. Follow this flow chart to know for sure and avoid getting yourself in trouble.
Tagged With creative commons
Google Images has offered the option to search for images available through Creative Commons and other free-to-reuse licences for a while, but you had to head to advanced search to find them. A revamp of image search means it's now easier to filter out pictures that can be reused or modified.
Windows: I use a lot of Creative Commons licensed images, which I usually find my images directly through Flickr's CC search or by using the CC Search webapp on the Creative Commons web site. CCFinder is a Windows program that adds a few neat tweaks to the image search process.
We're big fans of Creative Commons licensing, so the news that YouTube is now allowing users to upload their videos under a Creative Commons licence is welcome. If you're happy for your video content to be used and repurposed by others (with attribution), it's a great step forward.
Although we'd previously given a nod to Incompotech for their free graph paper they have a vastly more interesting collection of royalty-free music. Check out the huge selection and add some quality tunes to your next presentation or video.
At Lifehacker, we're unabashed fans of Creative Commons, the licensing approach which makes it easier to share content. Australia is running a series of free workshops around the country across September, which is a great chance to learn more about the legal issues and how Creative Commons licences are being used.
eBay includes a catalogue facility where sellers can access pictures of items for their own use in listings (not much chop for selling Auntie Maude's unique dresser, but handy for common items). From September 4, any image that eBay Australia sellers upload to their listings can potentially end up in the catalogue.
We've always been impressed with the detailed, step-by-step guides iFixit has posted for MacBooks, iPods and other devices. Now the site's put every bit of its content and future posts under a Creative Commons license, one that allows for free, non-commercial distribution and modification with attribution.
Lifehacker editors are, if nothing else, veterans at finding relevant, reusable images with permissive Creative Commons (CC) licensing on photo sharing site Flickr. So it's great to hear that Yahoo now offers advanced CC filtering for Flickr photos through its own, more powerful image search tool.
Ever since Facebook unveiled its new terms of service, users have been concerned over content ownership issues. For those still concerned, the Creative Commons licence Facebook application can help.