Commons Courtesy: Reusing Creative Commons-licensed media is easier than you think
There's a common misconception among certain unnamed news outlets that if something is on Wikipedia, it must be completely and totally free for them to use however they want—especially images. Here at Beutler Ink, we have Google alerts set up to help us keep abreast of all things Wikipedia, and the number of hits we get on images listing "Wikipedia Commons" as their source is, to quote Jimmy McMillan, "too damn high".
So we're going to show you the right way to do things.
Taking someone's picture without permission, whether you do so with a camera or by copying and pasting it from the Internet, might make that someone a little ornery. Photo by 松岡明芳, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Sunglasses added in post.
But before we do, we have to talk about licensing. For those unfamiliar, licensing is how permission is granted to use an image. Some images are copyrighted, or otherwise have "all rights reserved". That means that if we wanted to use that image, we'd have to get special, individual permission (a "license") from the owner of that image. This is often handled through licensing agencies like Shutterstock or Getty Images. Frequently, getting permission is as simple as paying a small fee to the image's rightsholder and receiving written acknowledgement that you are allowed to use it. This may also be referred to as a "closed license" or "closed-source license".
Open-Source Licenses
Open-source licenses are more frequently encountered on Wikipedia and on Wikimedia Commons (friendly reminder: it is Wikimedia Commons, not Wikipedia Commons), the arm of the Wikimedia movement that hosts media files. Open licenses allow anyone to use an image without seeking special permission or paying fees. That might mean the image is in the public domain, giving anyone the right to use it however they see fit. It might also mean that the image's creator has decided to license the image under a Creative Commons (CC) license.
The CC license could be considered a "some rights reserved" license, because they still have some requirements for the licensee. CC is pretty broad in its permissions, but there is a wide spectrum of rights that a rightsholder may reserve, so it's important to check each image before you use it.
When encountered on Wikipedia, images under CC licenses typically come with a few important caveats: the original image's creator must be credited, changes made must be noted, and a link to the license must be included wherever that image is subsequently posted. Sometimes, an additional requirement is imposed under a ShareAlike license. ShareAlike requires that anything using the original image in a new work also be released under a ShareAlike license, creating a chain of works under open licensing. This is the license used for Wikipedia articles, and for this post.
Fair Use
There is one major exception to this rule: logos, book covers, album art, and movie posters are frequently posted on Wikipedia under the Fair Use doctrine. Fair Use is incredibly complex, but to oversimplify and shorten the explanation, Fair Use says that when a copyrighted image is needed for educational purposes, it can be used in a limited fashion. Fair Use images are not allowed on Commons, and are hosted directly on Wikipedia. Typically, these images are low-resolution and can only be used in specific places. There are other images beyond those we listed that might fall under Fair Use, so it's critically important that you check before copying and pasting an image into your next blog post, or you might get a cease and desist notice.
Images produced by the U.S. federal government like this one to the right, are considered to be in the public domain. But snag a Fair Use image and you might not get such a friendly wave. Image by White House Photo Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Attribution
Checking what kind of license an image on Wikipedia uses is as simple as clicking on it and looking in the lower-right corner of the Media Viewer that opens. In the example to the right of a photo of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, the image is under a Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Screenshot CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Even better, the folks who run Wikimedia Commons have made it exceptionally easy to provide the required attribution. By clicking on "More details", you'll be taken to a file's page on Wikimedia Commons. It'll look something like this:
Photo of Matt Groening by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Below the file's title, you'll see a series of icons, including one of a globe with the words "Use this file on the web" next to it. Clicking on it will prompt a pop-up with the appropriate attribution and even HTML coding for embedding the image in a webpage, pre-made and waiting for you to copy and paste it wherever it needs to go.
.jpg){kind=link}
Screenshot CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
It's really that easy! Giving the artists who provide these images at no cost the credit they deserve is a small task, but one that is absolutely necessary both from a legal standpoint and from the point of view of being a good denizen of the Internet. At Beutler Ink, we strive to do that, and hope you are inspired to make the world's media images a little better-credited, too.