Questions tagged [creative-commons]

The Creative Commons license allows the distribution of copyrighted works. Use this tag for questions on how the Stack Exchange network makes use of the CC-license.

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543 votes
58 answers
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The MIT License – Clarity on Using Code on Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange

Update (Dec. 22, 2015): Thanks, everyone, for your feedback to this proposal. We're going to digest this one over the holidays and should have a follow-up announcement answering your questions and ...
samthebrand's user avatar
  • 5,220
259 votes
2 answers
6k views

Will concerns regarding the move to CC BY-SA 4.0 elicit any further dialogue from Stack Exchange, Inc.?

Fifteen days ago, it was suddenly announced that the user-contributed content on Stack Exchange had been relicensed as CC BY SA 4.0. The change took immediate and retroactive effect and is still in ...
Lightness Races in Orbit's user avatar
171 votes
1 answer
14k views

How do I remove my name from a post, in accordance with CC BY-SA?

The Creative Commons FAQ states that: Third, if the licensor does not like how the material has been modified or used, CC licenses require that the licensee remove the attribution information upon ...
142 votes
1 answer
2k views

What gives SE the legal right, under the CC-BY-SA license, to modify user profiles without indicating that the content has changed?

The Terms of Service clearly indicated that all content that you provide to SO Inc is licensed under CC-BY-SA, and that would include your About Me section of your user profile, which SO Inc is ...
user avatar
76 votes
6 answers
919 views

What is "code" for the purposes of the proposed MIT license switchover? [closed]

A follow up from my comment about the new license announcement and samthebrand's response (also from the new license change attempt): The proposed new licensing terms differentiate between code and ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
67 votes
5 answers
29k views

What is up with the source code license on Stack Overflow? [duplicate]

I know this has been asked several times. I've read the responses. I'm still very confused. What are the legal requirements for using samples from SO in other projects? If there are requirements, ...
csharptest.net's user avatar
57 votes
7 answers
2k views

Why do people object to the license change so strongly despite having preference towards the proposed new license (CC 4)?

I noticed that many are happy to have their content (questions and answers) published under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, which was proposed recently, but received a great backlash. The last time ...
iBug says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
53 votes
3 answers
2k views

EU copyright laws (2018-2019). Any risk for Stack Exchange?

The European Parliament JURI committee will be voting on 20th June 2018 on reforms of the EU copyright laws (full law proposal). According to a Creative Commons article titled 'Act now to stop the EU’...
user's user avatar
  • 2,983
53 votes
4 answers
1k views

How do I get my content on Stack Exchange licensed correctly or else removed?

I do not agree to my old content being relicensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (it is not the same as 3.0). Stack Exchange is not the owner of my contributions and is not allowed to change the license without ...
Sextus Empiricus's user avatar
51 votes
2 answers
916 views

Can one take the entire Q&A base and move it to a new site?

In the light of all recent moderators and experienced users quitting, I was wondering if anyone is allowed to take the entire Q&A set of a site, and move it to a new site, with new rules? I think ...
Patrick Hofman's user avatar
47 votes
2 answers
681 views

Could we have a Help Center page on disassociating posts?

As a moderator I sometimes1 find myself needing to explain disassociation to a user, usually one who has tried to delete posts that he's belatedly realized are connected to him. It'd sure be handy if ...
Monica Cellio's user avatar
44 votes
7 answers
2k views

How can I keep Stack Overflow clones out of my Google search results?

What is the best way to keep the various Stack Overflow clones and aggregators out of my Google search results? Sites that are not to be named; I'm looking at you. They are seriously messing up my ...
SooDesuNe's user avatar
  • 549
40 votes
4 answers
2k views

CC-by-SA vs MIT - The 2016 battle

Stack Exchange is announcing the change from CC-BY-SA 3.0 to MIT License and the chaos has emerged. After a few hours of research, I've concluded that I've been breaking the law (license) since the ...
Marco Aurélio Deleu's user avatar
40 votes
2 answers
2k views

Stack Exchange should stop using the Creative Commons logo [duplicate]

If I understand correctly, SE reproduces its user-produced content using a CC-BY-SA license with additional restrictions: namely, from point 3 of the TOS, In the event that You post or otherwise use ...
Federico Poloni's user avatar
38 votes
6 answers
1k views

Dealing with posts plagiarising from copyrighted sources

What means do users have to report plagiarism or posting of copyrighted work? A button to flag content as plagiarism would be useful. It's not quite "offensive," and should probably have a different ...
jmanning2k's user avatar
37 votes
2 answers
839 views

Are these eBooks that copy from SE illegal?

So, this guy has made a bunch of eBooks based on Stack Exchange content. Making books of SE stuff is okay, but two rules need to be followed: Attribution License the work under CC-BY-SA as well This ...
PyRulez's user avatar
  • 1,524
36 votes
1 answer
879 views

Are we allowed according to the ToS to exempt a part of our post from the CC license?

tl;dr: Right now we are not allowed to quote outside sources (unless they are compatible with cc by-sa 4.0) or use images under fair use exceptions in our posts. Creative Commons provides guidance how ...
David Mulder's user avatar
  • 2,054
35 votes
3 answers
913 views

Are the SE additions to the Creative Commons attribution requirements enforceable? [duplicate]

In the footer of Stack Exchange sites, it is stated that user contributions are licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 with a contradictory and incompatible attribution requirement addendum. The “attribution ...
Kris's user avatar
  • 475
32 votes
12 answers
1k views

A New Code License: the Community Edition

Okay, so that proposal didn't go very well... Clearly, the community thinks Stack Overflow, Inc messed up with their license proposal. Now it is time to you to prove we, as a community, can do better....
Patrick Hofman's user avatar
29 votes
1 answer
7k views

What is the correct way to attribute a Stack Overflow answer in my code?

I understand that Stack Overflow answers are released under a Creative Commons license, and that I may use code from Stack Overflow answers (such as this one) in my work. I want to give credit (as ...
Adjam's user avatar
  • 463
29 votes
2 answers
532 views

Can SE just resell our data, relicense it and remove the attribution requirement?

SE has decided to charge for the network content when used for training AI according to an article. This has not been officially announced here, so we do not know the details. But the main question to ...
Mad Scientist's user avatar
28 votes
6 answers
724 views

Is my copyrighted artwork protected if I upload it to a post?

Note this is not a question about using copyrighted material I do not own. It's about materials I own and have all rights to. A question on GraphicDesign.SE has spurred some comments regarding image ...
Scott's user avatar
  • 1,329
28 votes
1 answer
324 views

Why separate code and non-code licensing?

The rationale for the license change proposals is at least somewhat clear: i.e. to reduce legal concerns of using code from answers in software that may use incompatible licenses. However, what seems ...
otus's user avatar
  • 587
26 votes
1 answer
152 views

Stack Exchange does not show up in Google's Creative Commons Search

Not quite sure if this is bug report or feature request. In Google Advanced Search, you can search by CC license: http://search.creativecommons.org/. Other search engines also have similar features. ...
Lie Ryan's user avatar
  • 468
25 votes
3 answers
636 views

By posting a selection of previously written text here, are we waiving our copyrights to the excerpt?

Posts on Stack Exchange sites have a Creative Commons license applied. However, on Writers, people will post snippets of their own writing for critique purposes. Does that mean that if I post a ...
Goodbye Stack Exchange's user avatar
24 votes
0 answers
210 views

Does Amazon Alexa use Stack Exchange content, and if so, is it done legally?

According to the Stack Exchange content license (CC-BY-SA), uses of content on Stack Exchange sites must be properly attributed. However, I have noticed Amazon Alexa (accessed using an Echo device) ...
ctrueden's user avatar
  • 341
23 votes
2 answers
731 views

"Attribution Required" misses requirement to reference the license [duplicate]

The license info in the footer of every Stack Exchange page contains a link to the blog post Attribution Required. In this post, Jeff Atwood explains what the attribution is required to contain. ...
unor's user avatar
  • 3,062
21 votes
1 answer
248 views

Does a third party deleting an account that still has posts violate CC BY-SA 4.0?

According to Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license, you need to retain the name of the creator when sharing licensed material. If You Share the Licensed Material (...
Stop Harming the Community's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
979 views

Does SE need to switch to CC-BY-SA 4.0?

User contributions to Stack Exchange sites are licensed under Creative Commons; share alike, with attribution required. The version is 3.0, see cc-wiki in the footer. However, the most current ...
Ellie Kesselman's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
376 views

How do we make sure that contributors get the credit and attribution they deserve when their work is used for training AI models?

I have read the blog post about Community is the future of AI and I could not find any serious answer to this question. Here is the way I see it: The knowledge in Stack Exchange (and Stack Overflow in ...
Gal Weiss's user avatar
  • 301
20 votes
0 answers
197 views

Will SE tell us if they sell our content?

So, the CEO of Stack Exchange has been quoted in a news article saying that they plan to sell the content of the SE network to large companies training neural networks like the one used for ChatGPT. ...
Mad Scientist's user avatar
20 votes
0 answers
617 views

What licence is subscriber content provided under 4.0, 3.0 or them all?

In the footer it says: site design / logo © 2018 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required. rev 2018.8.7.31273 However, in the footer under ...
Peilonrayz's user avatar
  • 3,627
19 votes
1 answer
980 views

Does archival interfere with attribution removal?

There was a question asking about CC BY-SA 3.0's requirement to remove attribute on request. It was brought up that automatic archives may still preserve historical information, including attribution ...
forest distrusts StackExchange's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
337 views

Do I have to give attribution to SO when using my own content elsewhere?

Content on SE sites is licensed under CC-BY-SA. If I write a question/answer on your sites, do I still have copyright of the text I entered or does SE now hold all copyright to it? Can I put an ...
Tom's user avatar
  • 4,005
18 votes
3 answers
465 views

Why don’t we call our licence by name?

Why does Stack Exchange use this weird “cc-wiki” euphemism instead of calling the CC-BY-SA by its real name? This is a bug report disguised as a question. As in: please fix the footer.
kinokijuf's user avatar
  • 818
18 votes
1 answer
215 views

The mobile version of the website does not show the license along with the contributions

The contributors license their work with a creative commons license and more specifically "cc by-sa". This means that the if anybody, e.g. SE, wants to use the work of a contributor then they need to ...
Sextus Empiricus's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
405 views

Make it clear that you need to have the right to license any pictures under CC BY-SA

tl;dr: Right now we're not allowed to upload any images we don't own (fair use does not apply on this site, see the link). Let's make this a bit clearer in the image upload form. When you try to ...
David Mulder's user avatar
  • 2,054
17 votes
1 answer
402 views

Can I make a YouTube video adapting Stack Overflow content?

There are many interesting questions on Stack Overflow, that have many good answers and many good comments. I want to make an animated YouTube video about a question and some answers to help visual ...
Fee's user avatar
  • 273
17 votes
0 answers
122 views

When adding image from Wikimedia Commons, automatically add author/license/link

Many Stack Exchange questions and answers embed images from Wikimedia Commons. It is probably the most used image source here. The good news Thanks to their license, all images from Wikimedia Commons ...
Nicolas Raoul's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
193 views

Is moving self-answers in questions into separate answers under the Community user valid under CC BY-SA?

Prompted by my question at How best to deal with self-answers edited into questions? which was somewhat answered with a link to What to do when OP answers his/her own question in an edit?, which then ...
Ian Kemp's user avatar
  • 4,106
16 votes
2 answers
511 views

How can we avoid the pitfalls of CreativeCommons in code snippets?

Creative Commons is a great license for a wiki, but it's not a good software license at all. Is it the case that all code snippets are under the same license as the rest of the text? I commonly say "...
Micah Hainline's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
551 views

Has anyone sued SE for changing licensing? [closed]

There seems to be a lot of current drama flowing from the post Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow are moving to CC BY-SA 4.0 and related activities. It seems like some authors who published under 3.0 ...
James Jenkins's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

As a workaround to Imgur being blocked, is there a image hosting site which allows URL uploads and does not violate CC BY-SA 4.0 copyright?

Imgur is blocked in China (and probably in some other countries as well as many workplaces and educational institutions). This is annoying for Chinese users and Chinese.SE in particular. Workaround: ...
Rebecca J. Stones's user avatar
15 votes
0 answers
244 views

Does the dual license in the pre-2018 Terms of Service allow SE to permit others to redistribute subscriber content outside of CC BY-SA?

I was reading around the topic of the precise details of subscriber-content licensing on SE, and I found (and read more carefully than the previous times I'd seen it) this thread on FOSS.SE from 2017, ...
E.P.'s user avatar
  • 19.4k
15 votes
0 answers
237 views

License violation [duplicate]

The CC BY-CA 4.0 states Section 3 – License Conditions. Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions. a. Attribution. If You Share ...
Abyx's user avatar
  • 860
13 votes
9 answers
779 views

Creative Commons attribution and copycat sites

Using a Creative Commons license means anyone can take this content and republish it on the web. Will our usernames be also republished? (I guess the answer is yes!) What's to stop someone from ...
user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
7k views

Is copy-pasting code from Stack Overflow an infringement to CC BY-SA 3.0 or is it considered fair use?

Actually CC BY-SA 3.0 is a license which looks pretty good for most Stack Exchange Network sites, but on Stack Overflow which is used mainly for coding questions, is pretty much rigid since a lot of ...
Hacktivista's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
7k views

Is it ok to use watermarked shutterstock images?

As a non-native English speaker, I'm not very familiar with the license terms of Shutterstock. IMHO I should not use watermarked images and instead buy a license. If posted on SE sites, the image ...
Thomas Weller's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
298 views

Is proper attribution given when a moderator edits someone's comment?

As far as I know according to CC BY-SA 3.0 if someone edits any question/answer of a user then proper attribution is given that someone edited such and such content at say 12 P.M 1 January 2015. The ...
user31782's user avatar
  • 418
12 votes
1 answer
135 views

What is the correct attribution for remixing content of answers.onstartups.com?

According to https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012/04/when-a-site-grows-quiet/, data dumps of closed-down sites are available under the same CC BY-SA license as other data dumps. However, since the ...
Silver Dragon's user avatar