Ask Permission. It’s The Decent Thing To Do.
In my years of blogging I’ve encountered numerous requests to cite my posts and even to syndicate my blog’s content through RSS. By this I mean actually re-publishing the content I made on other sites (sometimes just the summary from the feed). And most of the time I’ve agreed. Actually, my stuff is already published under Creative Commons by attribution licenses. So people are free to use it as long as it’s for non-commercial purposes. And what do you know, the CC license even states that if explicit permission is granted, users may be free to use the content as they please, as long as this is within the agreement with the creator.
Makes me think about something previously posted here by Franky about why not to use Flickr images on your blog.
Back to flickr. No matter if you link back, credit the photo or rely on Fair Use, sooner or later D’Artagnan, or was it Don Quichote, will show up and create a whole drama in your comments.
…
Imagine the photographer suddenly decides to change the license into “no rights”.
Now those are good points. Licenses can be changed anytime and you might find yourself in hot water for pics that are suddenly illegally used.
I think there’s nothing that cannot be solved by some good ol’ fashioned diplomacy. I’d say go ahead and use Flickr images. To be sure, don’t forget to use the search for CC licensed images that allow republishing, modifications, or even commercial use. But it would be best to both link to the original site, and also to ask permission from the owner of the photo, even if it’s explicitly stated that you may already use the image. For one, you get to have new online contacts. And then you’re assured that the person is allowing you to use his or her content, even if the license changes in the future. Emails make for good paper trail.
You get to cover your arse and make new friends at the same time.
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Blog Roundup, January 31, 2007 » The J Spot said this on January 31, 2007 11:12 am
Imagine the photographer suddenly decides to change the license into “no rights”.
Actually, that’s rather simple: s/he can’t. If the photographer made a mistake in picking the wrong license initially, that’s their problem, not yours.
I’m not a copyright lawyer by any means, but I believe most licenses work this way. They can be “upgraded” for new/future use like with the Bono copyright extension, but they can’t take away permissions they’ve already given you(eg, stuff that had gone into public domain does not suddenly go back into copyright). End of discussion.
Su said this on February 1, 2007 5:52 pm