Creative Commons and image rights

In short: Creative Commons (CC) licences allow works to be used under defined conditions. Abbreviations such as BY, SA, NC and ND show which conditions apply.

In more detail: Photos, texts and music are protected by copyright even without a notice. Anyone who wants to use them needs permission. CC makes this permission public in a standardised way: BY (credit the author), SA (share alike), NC (non-commercial), ND (no derivatives). CC0 waives all rights.

Not legal advice.

In Depth

• Crediting correctly (TASL): title, author, source (link), licence (with link) and note of modifications.
• Commercial: With “NC” not allowed, not even on ad-financed sites.
• Editing: With “ND” not allowed (cropping and shrinking can already be editing).
• Wikimedia Commons: many free images with licence information. Check details.
• Public domain: works whose protection has expired (usually 70 years after the author’s death).
• Own images: licensed stock photos, own photos, self-made graphics. People in photos: respect personality rights (right to one’s own image).
• Wiki images here: with author, licence and link (licences).

See also: Copyright, Open-source licences (MIT, Apache, GPL)