WebProNews

Tag: creative commons

  • Linux Foundation Tackles Data Collaboration With Permissive License

    Linux Foundation Tackles Data Collaboration With Permissive License

    The Linux Foundation has announced the CDLA-Permissive-2.0 license agreement to make it easier to share AI and ML data.

    The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning have created a need for a new type of license that allows data sets and learning models to be shared, as well as incorporated into AI and ML applications.

    The Linux Foundation described the challenges in a blog post:

    Open data is different. Various laws and regulations treat data differently from software or other creative content. Depending on what the data is and which country’s laws you’re looking at, the data often may not be subject to copyright protection, or it might be subject to different laws specific to databases, i.e., sui generis database rights in the European Union. 

    Additionally, data may be consumed, transformed, and incorporated into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models in ways that are different from how software and other creative content are used. Because of all of this, assumptions made in commonly-used licenses for software and creative content might not apply in expected ways to open data.

    While the Linux Foundation previously offered the CDLA-Permissive-1.0 license, it was often criticized for being too long and complex. In contrast, 2.0 is less than a page long and is greatly simplified over its predecessor.

    In response to perceptions of CDLA-Permissive-1.0 as overly complex, CDLA-Permissive-2.0 is short and uses plain language to express the grant of permissions and requirements. Like version 1.0, the version 2.0 agreement maintains the clear rights to use, share and modify the data, as well as to use without restriction any “Results” generated through computational analysis of the data.

    A key element of the new license is the ability to collaborate and maintain compatibility with other licenses, such as Creative Commons licenses. The addition of CDLA-Permissive-2.0 is already being met with acclaim from the industry, with both IBM and Microsoft making data sets available using the language.

    “IBM has been at the forefront of innovation in open data sets for some time and as a founding member of the Community Data License Agreement. We have created a rich collection of open data sets on our Data Asset eXchange that will now utilize the new CDLAv2, including the recent addition of CodeNet – a 14-million-sample dataset to develop machine learning models that can help in programming tasks.” Ruchir Puri, IBM Fellow, Chief Scientist, IBM Research

  • Flickr Apologizes For Selling User Photos

    A few weeks ago, Yahoo’s Flickr angered some photographers by selling their work for profit, which it would not share with them. The complaints started, and eventually it became a news story, which gained national attention courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. Now, the company is saying it’s sorry, and is changing its plans.

    Did you follow this story when it first started? Do you think Yahoo/Flickr was within its rights to do what it was doing? Do you think angry photographers have overreacted, or did Yahoo cross the line? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    The company launched Flickr Wall Art, enabling users to turn their personal photostreams as well as over 50 million “freely-licensed Creative Commons images and order hand-selected collections from Flickr’s licensed artists” into prints. Well, some who had photos available under Creative Commons didn’t expect their content to be used in this way.

    Yahoo appears to have been within the confines of the law, but still, users felt like they were being taken advantage of. Here are some of the comments we received from readers:

    Another desperate ploy to make money…

    It’s bull … This is exploitation at its finest. Now now Yahoo, trying to gain market share with a stunt like this – I foresee a big drop is flickr photo sharing site … Pinterest should really ride this wave…

    Typical short-sighted big business. How much richer would your photo library be if people had incentive to store their photos there? They could even advertise for the themes they wanted and get thousands if not millions of entries.But if consumers don’t walk, or sue, then they will march on . . . I see an emerging business coming out of this debacle.

    As one pointed out, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has made comments in the past that didn’t sit too well with photographers. She was once quoted as saying, “There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro, because today, with cameras as pervasive as they are, there is no such thing, really, as a professional photographer.”

    Either way, Flickr has now apologized, and announced that it’s no longer offering these Creative Commons photos through the service. Flickr VP Bernardo Hernandez writes:

    We’re sorry we let some of you down.

    About a month ago, we introduced Flickr Wall Art to allow our members to order printed photos on wood or canvas. Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a lot of feedback from the community and beyond — while some expressed their excitement about the new photography marketplace and the value it would bring, many felt that including Creative Commons-licensed work in this service wasn’t within the spirit of the Commons and our sharing community.

    We hear and understand your concerns, and we always want to ensure that we’re acting within the spirit with which the community has contributed. Given the varied reactions, as a first step, we’ve decided to remove the pool of Creative Commons-licensed images from Flickr Wall Art, effective immediately. We’ll also be refunding all sales of Creative Commons-licensed images made to date through this service.

    Flickr says it will be working closely with Creative Commons on programs that “align better” with its community values.

    Meanwhile, Flickr will continue to make its Wall Art service available, utilizing personal photostreams and licensed artists from the Flickr Marketplace.

    Was this right move from Yahoo? Do you think photographers were rightly upset about what the company did? Share your thoughts.

    Image via Flickr

  • Microsoft Office Ditches Clip Art For Creative Commons Images From Bing

    Microsoft has faced the facts that nobody really wants to use lame clip art in the year 2015. As this year draws to a close, so does the era of clip art for Microsoft Office.

    Now, users are going to be able to utilize Creative Commons images from Bing Image Search rather than the clip art library they previously had access to. In a post on the Microsoft Office blog, the Office 365 team writes:

    Starting today, customers searching for Online Pictures in Office desktop products worldwide will view and download royalty-free images curated through Bing Images. The Office.com Clip Art and image library has closed shop. Usage of Office’s image library has been declining year-to-year as customers rely more on search engines.

    Bing Image Search has higher quality images that are more up-to-date. For example, searching for “cellphone” gives more variety and modern looking phones instead of the old-school bricks from Clip Art. Also, Bing uses a copyright filter based on the Creative Commons licensing system. These are images you can use, share, or modify for either personal or commercial use (settings can be switched to Show all web results to view more images).

    Presumably, the photographers behind the images being used for this won’t have a problem with this like some do with Yahoo’s play to make money on Creative Commons Flickr images.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Yahoo Angers Photographers By Selling Their Work

    How would you feel if the photo storage service you use decided to start selling your photos, and not share the profits with you? That’s what Yahoo’s Flickr is doing, and it’s leaving a bad taste in the mouths of some.

    Assuming the provider is within its legal bounds to be able to do so, would you mind if they sold your photos and kept all the money? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Yahoo has upset Flickr users as it sells their photos and keeps all the profit, but at the same time is not actually doing anything legally wrong, according to the company and the EFF.

    It would seem that Yahoo is trying to make better use of the content it hosts in terms of turning it into a revenue stream. This stream should be at its peak during the holiday season.

    Last week, the company launched Flickr Wall Art, enabling users to turn their personal photostreams into prints, search from over 50 million “freely-licensed Creative Commons images, and order hand-selected collections from Flickr’s licensed artists.”

    “In addition, we’ve curated a gorgeous selection of Flickr Marketplace licensed photos in various popular categories — animals, food, abstract, landscapes, patterns, and travel,” the company said in a blog post. “With the option to use Creative Commons, licensed artist images, or a photo of your own, you have endless possibilities to create the perfect holiday gift.”

    For users, that sounds pretty good. Flickr is apparently the biggest Creative Commons content partner for photos. Some photographers supplying those photos, however, aren’t too thrilled about Yahoo using their work to make money without sharing any of the profits.

    The Wall Street Journal, which highlights some complaints from disgruntled photographers, reports:

    Yahoo says it is complying with the terms of Creative Commons by selling only images that permit commercial use. The licenses “are designed for the exact use case that we’re enacting through our wall-art product,” Bernardo Hernandez, vice president of Flickr, wrote in an email.

    …

    A spokesman for Creative Commons, a nonprofit group formed in 2001, confirmed Yahoo is in accord with its licenses. Legally, “it doesn’t appear that Flickr is doing anything wrong,” said Corynne McSherry, intellectual-property director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

    It’s just that some of the photographers made their photos available under Creative Commons under the impression that they’d be used in articles or by other sources rather than Yahoo itself turning them into a source of revenue, much less one that leaves out the content creators. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the move could hurt Yahoo. If enough photographers feel that way, they could simply stop using Flickr, and take their photos to other sites that do share revenue with content creators in these types of scenarios.

    As one photographer the Journal spoke with pointed out, however, leaving Flickr isn’t that simple for those who have already invested so much into the service, and have massive amounts of photos on the service. That photographer, Devon Adams, had this to say in a Facebook post:

    I am very wary about Flickr’s new policies about selling CC images as mural art on their website. Biggest complaint is how rough it is to keep attribution with the image.

    Adams links to a blog post from Carter Law Firm, which says:

    Every Creative Commons license I’ve ever seen requires giving the copyright holder an attribution for their work. (Always give credit where it’s due!) I would hope that Yahoo would put the attribution on the front of the image – in a lower corner, so anyone who sees it can know who created the image. If that’s not possible (and good luck convincing me it’s not possible), at least put a non-removable label or notice on the back of who the copyright holder is and a URL to the original image on Flickr. If they don’t give an attribution as the license requires, they could be committing copyright infringement and could face a cease and desist letter, a bill, or a lawsuit.
    …

    I hope Yahoo is diligent about giving photographers the credit they deserve and respecting when a photographer changes the license on their Flickr account to only allow non-commercial uses. This won’t impact a person’s ability to own wall art of it prior to the license being changed; but Yahoo should stop selling it if the artist doesn’t want the company making money from it.

    This isn’t the first time Yahoo has tried to better monetize Flickr of late. It also started including ads in photo slideshows in another move that irked some of those photo providers.

    While some photographers are clearly not thrilled with Yahoo’s selling of their work, it’s certainly worth noting that the majority of the photographers the Journal spoke with were actually okay with it. 8 out of 14 indicated they were fine with the move, mainly because they’re happy to get the exposure and see people appreciating their work. It’s hard to say, based on this small data set, just how controversial Yahoo’s move is.

    Do you see a problem with what Yahoo is doing? Let us know what you think.

    Image via Flickr

  • Lawrence Lessig Discusses Political Reform At Reddit

    Lawrence Lessig Discusses Political Reform At Reddit

    If you are a fan of either enjoying or creating YouTube mashups with content developed by another artist to your heart’s fair-use content, Lawrence Lessig is a person you should really be aware of. Lessig is, perhaps, the most credentialed and articulate individuals regarding the freedom of expression, especially the kind expression the Internet allows. Aside from being a professor at Harvard, the outspoken scholar is also the founder of Creative Commons, and is a renowned expert on issues regarding copyright and trademark laws. Aside from being a champion of creative entities like Girl Talk, Lessig is also something of a political watchdog who actively speaks out against the current climate of US politicians following the money when it comes to enacting policy.

    The culmination of Lessig’s ideas concerning how to stem the tide of special interests groups–ones with deep pockets that are full of cash–was demonstrated during a recent TED Talk that focused on political corruption:


    The next step in Lessig’s spread-the-word campaign was to conduct a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), that, as of this writing, is still going on. The decision to court Reddit’s audience is a wise on by Lessig, especially when you consider just how outspoken Reddit’s audience can be. For instance, if you don’t think the incredibly negative feedback from Reddit concerning the upcoming Xbox One didn’t influence Microsoft’s decision to eliminate many of DRM features that the outcry was focusing on, you probably aren’t keeping up.

    Word of mouth is still a powerful tool, and underestimating the influence of one of the web’s most popular sites, a site that features an incredibly outspoken following, is foolish.

    With that in mind, it makes perfect sense for Lessig to address a group that is largely comprised of like-minded individuals. Furthermore, Lessig was a huge supporter of the deceased Aaron Swartz. As indicated, the focus of Lessig’s visit was discussion surrounding how to combat corrupt politics.

    Some examples:

    werddrew 22 points 59 minutes ago
    I see money in politics being a “chicken and the egg” problem. The legislators who would have to pass the law getting money out of politics are the legislators who got in place by being good gaming the “money in politics” system.
    How the heck do you even START to address a problem this deeploy rooted? I imagine you acknowledge this issue, since the name of your organization is “root strikers.” Is there a practical step beyond “awareness” that can be taken?

    lessig 24 points 50 minutes ago
    Awareness is the gasoline. Spread it broadly, and a tiny spark can ignite change. (Hey, not so bad for on the fly…) And look at states where a similar change was made: Activists in Connecticut spent years pushing that issue, spreading awareness. And when the governor was convicted for corruption, change happened.

    And:

    pixelperfect3 21 points 58 minutes ago
    You advocate in your book that congressmen should be paid much more than what they are right now (about $175,000/year). How much do you think they should be paid to make them lose the incentive to become a lobbyist? Does 250-300k sound better?

    lessig 35 points 47 minutes ago
    Oh please don’t out me on this. Ok, but DON’T TELL ANYONE I SAID THIS: They are lawmakers. Why aren’t they paid as much as a first year partner at a DC firm? In Singapore, gov’t ministers get paid $1 million a year. Where is corruption in Singapore. NO-where.

    As indicated, the AMA looks like it is still active, with Lessig answering the following question about 4-5 minutes ago, Rbob48: “favorite cereal?” Lessig: “unprocessed oats.” There may still be time to get your questions in, if you hurry.

  • Yahoo Image Search Gets Creative Commons Flickr Images

    Yahoo announced that it has added images from Flickr that are available for re-use or re-posting under Creative Commons terms to it Image Search results. This includes tens of millions of photos.

    To access these images, simply go to Yahoo Image Search, and search like normal, then if you want to use something, just select the “labeled for reuse” filter on the left-hand side, then hover over the thumbnail to see details about the photo (including the photographer’s name).

    Then, just click on the thumbnail to view the image. You can see the specific Creative Commons license terms for the image by clicking “attribution”. You can also see more pics from that particular photographer if you click “i”.

    The feature is available on the desktop version as well as on mobile devices and tablets.

    This is a welcome addition to search results for bloggers, and anyone writing on the web on a regular basis, who is on the lookout for interesting usable images for articles and posts.

  • Crowd-Sourced Rally Car Driver Joins Reddit on its Cross-Country Internet Freedom Tour

    The Internet 2012 Bus Tour is mainly about promoting local businesses that are thriving with the help of the open internet and showing politicians that internet freedom can help create jobs. Mainly that, but it’s also about showing off what internet communities can create.

    Joining the Reddit tour bus on its cross-country journey is the Local Motors Rally Fighter, a community-designed vehicle that can be built by anyone with the tools and know-how. The car has a 6.2 liter, V8 engine and 430 horsepower, but it is street legal in all 50 states and can be built with off-the-shelf parts. Best of all, the design of the vehicle is copyrighted under Creative Commons, and all of the

    Adam Keiser, the sales and client relation manager at Local Motors, is driving the Rally fighter during the tour, and spoke with WebProNews during the tour’s stop in Lexington, KY.

    “It’s basically like driving a Corvette on Steroids,” said Keiser. “The Rally Fighter is the world’s first open-sourced, co-created vehicle on the market today.”

    Local Motors has a large community of automotive designers, engineers, fabricators, and enthusiasts. It allows people to co-create vehicles and parts, meaning that other companies have even leveraged the site’s community for their own products.

    Keiser stated that Local Motors’ crowd-sourcing abilities allow it to design cars very quickly, and for far less money than the process traditionally takes. In addition, the cars are created with the input of the people who will use them, which doesn’t happen at larger car companies, where cars are designed in-house and then marketed to customers.

    “With the Rally Fighter, we designed, developed, and created the first working prototype in 18 months at a total cost of $3 million,” said Keiser. “Now, a lot of people would think that that’s a lot of money, but [a Toyota Yaris] was probably, more than likely, an 8 to 10 year process and $1 billion. So, they have to sell a ton of those things to be profitable…whereas we can make 10 Rally Fighters a month and be profitable.”

    The company also open-sources all of the design details for the Rally Fighter, and has copyrighted it under a Creative Commons license.

    “You can literally go on to rallyfighter.com and download all the CAD data for that vehicle. We don’t hide anything,” said Keiser. ” All we ask is that you don’t sell it for profit.”

    Keiser’s passion for Local Motors and what the open internet can achieve is clear. He grew up in Pennsylvania and joined the automotive industry after college. He worked for the “big three” car manufacturing companies, but quickly grew weary of the aging car industry.

    “I just got burnt out really quick on the daily grind of your typical manufacturing process,” said Keiser.

    He went back to school for an MBA, during which time he found out about Local Motors. Soon after Local Motors moved to Phoenix to develop the Rally Fighter, Keiser followed.

    “I did not visit a single job board, I didn’t put my resume anywhere,” said Keiser. “I knew when I was packing my U-Haul with my wife and my dog that I was going to work for Local Motors.”

    Below is an introduction to The Forge at the Local Motors website, where the company’s community projects take shape:

  • YouTube Reminds Us That There Are Over 4 Million Creative Commons Videos At Our Disposal

    A little over a year ago, YouTube launched Creative Commons on YouTube, and officially allowed uploaders to ad a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) to their videos. At the launch, the CC library consisted of just over 10,000 videos from organizations like C-SPAN, PublicResource, and Al Jazeera.

    Today, YouTube tells us that there are now 4 million Creative Commons videos in their library, which means that YouTube is the number one place to go on the web to find video to “reuse, remix, and reimagine.”

    From the YouTube blog:

    Since the Creative Commons video library launch on YouTube a year ago, you’ve added more than 40 years’ worth of video to the mix. Anyone, anywhere can edit, build on and republish the library’s videos for free thanks to the Creative Commons Attribution license, otherwise known as CC BY.

    Do you need a professional opening for your San Francisco vacation video? Perhaps some gorgeous footage of the moon for your science project? How about a squirrel eating a walnut to accompany your hot new dubstep track? All of this and more is available to inspire and add to your unique creation. Thanks to CC BY, it’s easy to borrow footage from other people’s videos and insert it into your own, because the license grants you the specific permissions to do so as long as you give credit to the original creator.

    To make your video available to the Creative Commons, it’s as simple as clicking this option when uploading:

    And starting today, you can switch over your default to CC BY, meaning that all of your future uploads will appear in the Creative Commons library.