Sunday, September 14, 2008 12:02 PM
We know that many photographers on Picasa Web Albums are interested in having their photos be seen by as large an audience as possible. We also know that some users--but by no means all--are happy allowing their photos to be re-used elsewhere, as long as proper credit is given.
Fortunately, there's an organization called Creative Commons (a separate non-profit group not affiliated with Google), which has created a set of usage rights known as Creative Commons licenses for just this purpose. CC licenses enable you, as a content owner, to allow for certain uses of your images by other people or companies, while still retaining ownership and control.
Now, with the new Creative Commons licensing option on Picasa Web Albums, you can change the usage terms on some or all of your images from "all rights reserved" to "some rights reserved" and apply one of six CC licenses. For example, you might choose to allow others to use your images as long as they give you attribution, or you can enable use of your images as long as they're not re-mixed into derivative works or used for commercial purposes.
Of course, you still retain complete ownership and control over your own images--and if you do not want to allow any kind of re-use, you don't have to. By default, we assume that photos you upload to Picasa Web Albums are "all rights reserved" by you (i.e., standard copyright). But if the idea of opting in to Creative Commons licensing sounds interesting, click here to learn more about all the licensing options available.
