Openverse Licensing-Feedback
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Howdy, I see that Openverse is now included in our media options when adding images in our Post/Page Editors https://wordpress.com/support/openverse/
At the moment, if one navigates to the Openverse utility on ORG, there’s a disclaimer at the bottom of the page,
Openverse does not currently index the sources listed above, but through this interface is offering convenient access to search services provided by other independent organizations. Openverse has no control over the results that are returned. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. Always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link. If you are in doubt, you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the content.
Are all the images available via Openverse here in the WordPress.com Editor restricted to CC0/public domain images or does Openverse work the same way as above through the WordPress.com interface? How will a blogger know that they need to research or show the credit as a part of the image use? There’s currently nothing mentioned from within the interface itself when adding an Openverse image.
As an example, I added this Openverse photo as the Featured image to this draft post (Staff only) and there’s no mention during the process that this image is available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 license. It’s only if I navigate to the Media Library that I see that information. So without intent, I’m violating that CC license when adding this image as a featured image (which BTW is also the image that will be shared if the post is reblogged/shared) since there’s no visible licensing information when selecting an Openverse image.
FWIW-the image’s licensing information does appear as a caption when I add the Openverse image directly to a Post or Page, but there’s nothing preventing its removal by less concerned bloggers.
WordPress.com is providing its users with a utility without users being aware up front of what’s happening on the back end of things or what’s required of them. Yes, ultimately it’s up to users to adhere to copyright/licensing, but implementing said utility in a way that makes licensing clearer and doesn’t leave users open to possible litigation would be a win for everyone.
Thanks for listening.
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Hi @justjennifer,
The disclaimer at the bottom is only for the sources that are listed directly above, not the Openverse index itself.
Only the Openverse Library is integrated into the WordPress.com Media Library and all the media files there are openly-licensed. So, there’s no issue when you use one of those images anywhere on your blog.
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Thanks for the quick response and explanation @fstat
Only the Openverse Library is integrated into the WordPress.com Media Library and all the media files there are openly-licensed. So, there’s no issue when you use one of those images anywhere on your blog.
The results I received when adding a Featured image from the Openverse utility in the WordPress.com Post Editor included images with CC licenses that require being displayed, as per the example I gave in my original post here. However, there’s no indication of that requirement when adding the image nor does the CC license appear on the Featured image or in the Post itself (unless one adds the image again or copies the information from the Media Library and adds it to the post/page).
How does WordPress.com suggest users proceed in this circumstance, especially when featured images are recirculated when a blog post is shared? TIA
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Hi Jennifer,
Featured images don’t display captions, no, so at the moment there’s no built-in way to show attribution. However, this is already being discussed over on WordPress.org, where Openverse is being worked on, as a future enhancement. I also saw this brought up in an issue in Gutenberg itself. But it would need to happen there before it will be available on WordPress.com.
Same goes for displaying license information in the search results already, and even the ability to filter results based on license, for example, if you want to only use attribution-free images – it’s currently under discussion on WordPress.org.
For now you’d need to check this manually – at the end of the day each of us is responsible for whatever we add to our own sites, and that includes making sure that we comply with the license for any image we use, regardless of how we find and insert that image into our content :)
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Thanks for the additional information, Herman. As I said,
Yes, ultimately it’s up to users to adhere to copyright/licensing, but implementing said utility in a way that makes licensing clearer and doesn’t leave users open to possible litigation would be a win for everyone.
Our only comparable utility here on WordPress.com is the Pexels Free Photo Library https://wordpress.com/support/free-photo-library/ where all the images offered are CC0, without any need to attribute the author.
My thought is that, given the above, users will think the newly-introduced Openverse photo utility images are CC0 as well, even though they are not, because there is no indication otherwise. That is why I asked if the Openverse images currently being offered via the WordPress.com interface are CC0/public domain. If not, the image licensing should be made clearer.
Here’s an example of a search result from Openverse on ORG, where hovering over an image displays the license sticker.
Ideally this “sticker” should also appear on the WordPress.com interface when searching for an image.
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And, by the way, it is already possible to filter search results on ORG by license
https://search.openverse.engineering/search/image?q=mountain&license=cc0
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