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‘Unsplash’ and the Freedom of Use
Recently, I was asked whether we may trust unsplash, that its content is free – in the sense of free speech, not in the sense of free beer. The short answer is: YES. The long answer explains the difference between unsplash and unsplash+:
The simple unsplash license says, that you get “an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash“. The only thing, you are not allowed to do, is, to integrate unsplash photos into another image database. Thus, unsplash images are indeed free.
But – and this is equally true for other free image databases – getting an image / photo for free does not automatically include, that you really have all rights: Yes, in this case the photographer grants all rights to you that he has gained by taking the photography. But sometimes the people depicted also have rights. Thus, by downloading and reusing a picture which is freely distributed with respect to the rights of its author – the photographer – you could nevertheless violate rights of the depicted persons.
That’s, what’s covered by unsplash+: By paying 6€/month the unsplash+ license asserts you that “unsplash+ photos will not infringe third party IP rights or publicity rights” and that – if they nevertheless do – you will be compensated for the corresponding legal damage.
Additionally, unsplash+ permits you to download as many pictures as you want, which – by implication – does not apply to unsplash.
In summary, unsplash has set up a real open-source business: You are not paying for getting the right to use the pictures, but – if you pay – for the extended service of a colelction of reviewed pictures: It is always good to read that the open source business idea is spreading.
© Karsten Reincke: Open-Source of 2022-12-27 about Open Source, Images etc. with 0 comments. Published under the terms of the Creative Commons Share Alike license.
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