Flickr Adds Public Domain and Creative Commons 0 Photo Sharing Options

Flickr announced the licensing changes through a blog post on Monday, where it stated that it had received feedback from users who wanted to share their images freely by releasing their copyright under CC0 or list them as Public Domain. Images under these new licences are available for anyone for any purpose, without any restrictions under copyright law.

One of the first Flickr accounts to adopt the new licensing protocols was Elon Musk's space transportation company, SpaceX, which has uploaded dozens of images of its launches and rocket facilities to the site and activated Public Domain licensing on all of them. All of these stunning images are free for use, be it commercial or non-commercial, without needing permission or proper attribution.

Flickr has not confirmed this, but it is believed that the new licensing options have come about as a direct result of Elon Musk facing criticism for not keeping his images truly free of copyright. He initially released them under a Creative Commons license, but later changed over to a CC-BY license (which allows free use as long as attribution is maintained), since there was no licensing option that allowed a more free use of his photos. Upon activation of the CC0 and Public Domain options, SpaceX promptly changed the licensing to Public Domain.

An increasing number of users are changing their licensing to Public Domain or CC0. Photos are still uploaded to Flickr with 'All Rights Reserved' as the default setting, but it is easy to change the licensing to Public Domain or CC0 through account settings.