Often website developers, bloggers, and online portals use images that fall under the creative commons image category, and based on the creative commons type, one has to attribute the owner of the image and photograph – Sounds simple and easy, right? That is something we all have been doing for years and it is our duty and responsibility – after all, we are using someone’s work and it should be rightfully credited back.
However, using Creative commons image aka CC image is not as modest and free as it appears to all of us including images from Wikimedia Commons and Flickr (especially when it comes from a pro user). An unintentional missing attribution link can bring you an unwanted situation where you would be slapped with a penalty of as much as $1000. Removing the image or giving them attribution later won’t help you either. A friendly email of ‘I apologize for my unintentional mistake and I am attributing now’ won’t help too.
Yes, that’s correct and people have been getting legal notices for years now.
Creative Commons Image is a Copyrighted Material That You are Allowed to Use, But Under Conditions
We tend to believe that images under a Creative Commons license are free to use. Wrong. Images under the Creative Commons category are copyrighted material that is not free but you can use them if you attribute the image exactly how the author wants you to credit them. If the author wants you to link back and put their name, you should.
If the author wants you to link back to their website, you need to. Any missing credit or link can bring you a demand notice.
There are online agencies and websites that have been working on artists’ behalf so you need to be very very careful. Otherwise, you will be levied with a demand notice that you cannot afford to pay, and failing to pay that amount can bring you a huge copyright legal battle that you wouldn’t want to get yourself in. After all, we all (including me) are small-time hustlers trying to somehow meet our ends working online.
There are Various Types of Creative Commons Licenses and You Need to Be Aware of What you are Using
When you credit or attribute an image that belongs to the Creative Commons category, you will find there are various types of Creative Commons licenses –
CC-BY (CCY-BY-2.0, CCY-BY-3.0, CCY-BY-4.0) – You are free to use them, remix, or adapt even commercially but you need to give attribution and credit to the artist as he/she wants. Most of these images can be found on Wikimedia Commons as well as Flickr especially CC-BY-2.0 (Attribution Generic 2.0) and interestingly these images are the ones that can trouble you a lot, if in case you miss out on attribution or part of the attribution as the artist can send you to demand notice via agencies (online companies) that act on the artists’ behalf.
CC-BY-SA – Here, if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you will have to distribute your contribution under the same license as the original one. Besides, you need to give proper accreditation.
Then there are two types of non-commercial Creative Commons licenses that strictly disallows you to use if you have commercial objectives i.
e. CCY BY-NC and CC BY-NC-SA.
Then comes the 6th and most restrictive of all licenses the CCY-BY-NC-ND – You can neither use them for commercial purposes nor change them in any way.
In short, no matter what type of creative commons licenses you are using, you need to keep your eyes open and use/attribute accordingly. Slight negligence and you can have letters of copyright violations – demanding a huge sum and sadly, there is no turning back.
Using Creative Commons Image is Risky
So, if you want to prevent these misfortunes and accidents it is best to limit your use of creative commons images because they are the images that have licenses – or best, stop using them altogether and go for public domain images that are not only free to use but also free to adapt, remix and transform. The beauty of using public domain images is that if you miss attributing them, it is perfectly fine because they are non-copyrighted images without any licenses and is allowed to use for free in the real sense.
Now, if you are wondering where can you get such public domain images, Pixabay is a place to be. You’ll find almost all types of images that you are searching for on this site. We have been using images for our portals from the site for years now. For illustrations and vector images, Geralt and mo_hassan have been are go-to artists’.
The End Note
Using creative commons image is fine but then it should be used quite responsibly as it comes with a lot of formalities to be followed. In short, they are risky because in reality they are copyrighted material and it comes with licenses. However, if you want to go tension-free with respect to images on your website, it is best to use public domain images. Trust me, we have learned this the hard way and we do not want our readers and fellow bloggers, and portal owners to face the same unwarranted situation ever.
Also Read: How Do I Make Money Online Consistently from a Decade Now: 7 Ways!
