Commons:Where is the license on various sites?

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A number of popular image and other media providing sites hide their license information in non-obvious places on the page. This is a list of sites, and where to look for the license tag on each one.


500px

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License data is collected here: Commons:500px licensing data. If you encounter any problems or information that should be there but isn't or information that shouldn't be there but is, report it on the talk page.

500px used to offer uploads under Creative Commons licenses until 1 July 2018. While these licenses were previously displayed online next to the image in question, this is no longer the case, even though Creative Commons licenses are irrevocable. Unreviewed uploads from 500px at Wikimedia Commons may be checked as follows.

To find the license, view the page source and look for a code like this:

<a about='https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/256344659/q%3D80_m%3D2000/v2?webp=true&sig=80cd1a0424e27af05ca51ca66fd1377cc9848b2d14837dc78b5cb197a20e9842' href='http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/' id='server_photo_cc_license' rel='license'></a>

A suitable search string would be id='server_photo_cc_license' as this does not occur in source code for non-free images. In this case, the image is licensed as CC0. (zero/1.0).

Acceptable license for our purposes include:

  • 'http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/' CC-0
  • 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/' CC-by-3.0
  • 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/' CC-by-sa-3.0

For trusted users and administrators: If you just reviewed an old upload from 500px, please also update the table at Commons:500px licensing data.

Dreamy Pixel

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The Dreamy Pixel website has a category for All free images. It states that "these free images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." Single images like this will not have a CC mark but a link to "All free images" will be shown above the image title.

DeviantArt

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If there is a Creative Commons license, the full license name will be mentioned in the Image Details section below the description. Any license without the strings Noncommercial or NoDerivatives is acceptable for Commons. Occasionally there may also be waivers of copyright in the description of the image, such as

You are allowed to

  • Share
  • Remix

basically use this work in any way you like (even commercially),
Under the following conditions:
No conditions

or

This tutorial is under a CC-0 / Public Domain license.

which are also acceptable at Commons.

If there is no explicitely written license, the artwork is non-free and may not be uploaded here.

Everipedia

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Everipedia is a Wikipedia fork that combines images from Wikipedia (including fair use), Commons, unknown sources and original content. User content posted to Everipedia is released with a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.[1] No clear distinction is made between text and other media. Unfortunately, as Everipedia is not open to everyone, it's not possible to verify if people who upload original content to Everipedia are aware (besides the ToS) they release their content with an open license. On the Everipedia site there is no known way to see who uploaded an image, who the author is and which license they claim for it, assuming BY-SA 4.0 is not the only option. A detailed description of the attribution is available. In addition to all this uncertainty, Everipedia is rife with copyvios. The result of all this is that (at least as of November 2018) we require OTRS permission for images from Everipedia, even those that were likely taken by an Everipedian.

Flickr

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Lower right, under the image and "Taken on" date:

  • either a All rights reserved icon and "All rights reserved", or
  • one or more Creative Commons icons Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Noncommercial iconCreative Commons No Derivative Works iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon and "Some rights reserved", or
  • Creative Commons Zero icon and "Public domain" ("Public domain dedication"), or
  • Creative Commons Zero icon and "Public domain" (the "Public domain mark")
  • A green circle and "No known copyright restrictions"
  • A green circle and "United States government work".

The "Some rights reserved" link goes to the specific Creative Commons license.

  • Creative Commons Zero icon Public domain dedication,
  • Creative Commons Attribution icon Attribution,
  • Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon Attribution Share-Alike and
  • A green circle United States government work

are acceptable for our purposes.

  • A grey circle with in C inscribed an a slash across it all While the Public Domain Mark is not the ideal way to release one's own work into the public domain, it is nonetheless accepted if no other license is available, as some websites (most notably Flickr) make it very easy to select with little explanation of the difference between it and the CC0. However, if possible try to get the copyright holder to change the license to CC0, which is a public domain dedication that provides better legal certainty. Use {{PDMark-owner}} as a licence template.
  • A green circle "No known copyright restrictions" has been debatable, since it doesn't actually say the user owns the item's copyright and is placing the item into the public domain, just that they think it already is.

In general, the "No known copyright restrictions" from most of "The Commons" on Flickr have been accepted, since they are mostly highly reputable institutions.

All Flickr Creative Commons images may be found at: https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

"The Commons" on Flickr ("No known copyright restrictions" images) may be found at: https://www.flickr.com/commons

Fotki

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Fotki is a photo and video sharing platform. At the description page of a photograph or video above the tags section on the right side, there may be an icon indicating a free licence. E.g. Creative Commons Attribution icon typically means that the work has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic licence. You can verify the exact type of licence by clicking the icon. Where there is no Creative Commons icon, the work is non-free and may not be uploaded here.

Ipernity

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Bottom right of the entire page in a section called "Authorizations, license":

  • either a All rights reserved icon and "All rights reserved", or
  • one or more Creative Commons icons Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Noncommercial iconCreative Commons No Derivative Works iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon with a short name and link to the license.

Free licenses that are acceptable for our purposes:

  • Creative Commons Zero icon and "free use"
  • Creative Commons Attribution icon and "Attribution"
  • Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon and "attribution + share Alike"

Any combination including either of these

  • Creative Commons No Derivative Works icon and "no derivative"
  • Creative Commons Noncommercial icon and "non Commercial"

is not acceptable.

Oberwolfach Photo Collection

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"Copyright Information / Disclaimer", the section of the website https://opc.mfo.de/, says that "images labelled with 'Copyright: MFO'" are released under "Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany." Images not labelled with it require permission from the copyright holder.

Skitterphoto

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Example. Below the highest ranked photos: "All images on Skitterphoto are public domain using Creative Commons CC0. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission" and per this webpage.

Tasnim

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Images created by Tasnim News Agency, a media organisation in Iran, are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. This is stated in the footer of all their webpages at http://www.tasnimnews.com/. Photographs produced by the agency contain a watermark in the lower left corner, and on the bottom edge there is a black bar containing white text that attributes the name of the photographer, e.g. "photo: Mohammaed Hassanzadeh". Typically these photographs are published as part of an album or a set, and their URL has the structure tasnimnews.com/fa/media/, however, Tasnim photographs do appear under other types of URLs.

Caution: Tasnim News Agency will occasionally use and refer to images and material accessed or supplied from other organisations, including other media organisations or government agencies. These images are not acceptable, because they have not been created by Tasnim photographers. In these cases, Tasnim would have cleared rights from the original copyright holders to use these images on their own site, but would not have the rights to re-license them under CC.

When uploading
  • Do not use the {{Tasnim}} tag directly, instead you should use {{subst:Tasnim/subst}}. This adds a {{LicenseReview}} template as well, so that a reviewer can verify its status.
Known Tasnim News Agency photographers (not a complete list)
  • Erfan Kouchari; Mohammaed Hassanzadeh; Mohsen Rezapour; Hossein Zohrevand; Mohammad Ali Marizad; Hamed Malekpour
Note for reviewers
See also

Tistory

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Bottom right of entire page, one or more small grey Creative Commons icons: Creative Commons Attribution icon Creative Commons Noncommercial icon Creative Commons No Derivative Works icon Creative Commons Share Alike icon. They link to the respective Creative Commons 4.0 Intl. license's deed.ko pages. If there is no such icon, the page is All Rights Reserved.

  • Creative Commons Attribution icon Attribution, and
  • Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon Attribution Share-Alike

are acceptable for our purposes.

More details at User:-revi/Tistory

Twemoji

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The Twitter Emoji (Twemoji) website provides emojis and icons published under a Creative Commons by attribution 4.0 license. This is stated at the bottom of the project's front page. Individual file pages will not have a licence tag though.

Unsplash

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https://unsplash.com/ This is complicated in a different way than most. On 5 June 2017, Unsplash switched the sitewide license for all uploads from Creative Commons CC0 to a custom license arrangement which does not meet the free content licensing requirements for Commons. Therefore, images published on Unsplash after 4 June 2017 are not considered to be public domain and are not accepted on Commons. But the CC0 license for the previous uploads is irrevocable. So for verifying the license on an Unsplash page, click the Info link on the lower right below the image and check the Published on date. If it is before June 5, 2017, then the license is Creative Commons CC0 which is acceptable, if it is on or after June 5, 2017, then it is not acceptable.

See {{Unsplash}}

Vimeo

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Under the video, on the left, the more link under the large title. Click the more link to show an About popup, that has the video title, uploaded by, date, hashtags, and finally, at the very bottom, if there is a Creative Commons license, one or more faint grey Creative Commons icons: Creative Commons Attribution icon Creative Commons Noncommercial icon Creative Commons No Derivative Works icon Creative Commons Share Alike icon Creative Commons Zero icon Those icons are links to the specific Creative Commons license.

  • Creative Commons Zero icon Public domain,
  • Creative Commons Attribution icon Attribution,
  • and Creative Commons Attribution iconCreative Commons Share Alike icon Attribution Share-Alike

are acceptable for our purposes.

Vimeo Creative Commons videos: https://vimeo.com/creativecommons

YouTube

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Middle of the page, second white block under the video starting with Published on date, hidden under the SHOW MORE link.

How the HTML code may look like:
<div tabindex="0" id="action-panel-details" class=>
  <div id="watch-description" class=>
     <div id="watch-description-content">
        <div id="watch-description-clip">
          <!-- some other things --><div id="watch-description-extras">
            <ul class="watch-extras-section"><li class=>
                <h4 class="title">
Licensing
                </h4>
                <ul class=>
                  <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/t/creative_commons"  >… Creative Commons …</a>
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li></ul>

Click the SHOW MORE link to expand the section, and look on the License row, either:

There isn't a page listing all Creative Commons videos on YouTube, but when you do a "Search", you then have the option to click the "Filters" pulldown and select "Creative Commons", to restrict your results to only Creative Commons Attribution licensed videos. It isn't always strictly correct, you still need to confirm the Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed) on the page for the video itself.

YouTube Shorts, which are often displayed as portrait mode, upright, cell phone videos, don't show SHOW MORE links even if they are Creative Commons Attribution licensed. However you can often go to the page that displays them as standard YouTube videos, which will have that SHOW MORE link if so licensed. To do so, replace https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ in the URL with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= . For example, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nj8SWd4zF94 is a portrait mode video, no link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj8SWd4zF94 is a standard YouTube page for that video, has a SHOW MORE link, and a Creative Commons Attribution license.