Commons:Flickr files
Shortcuts: COM:F • COM:FF • COM:FLICKR Flickr allows free hosting of imagery under a variety of licenses, some free and some non-free. Flickr allows its users to select the license of their choice and to change it at any time, but it is easy to verify that a photograph was freely licensed in the past as Flickr now shows license history as of October 25, 2022.
| Flickr image info | License | License tag |
|---|---|---|
 Some rights reserved
|
Attribution | {{Cc-by-4.0}} |
 Some rights reserved
|
Attribution-ShareAlike | {{Cc-by-sa-4.0}} |
 Public domain
|
Public Domain Dedication (CC0) | {{Cc-zero}} |
 United States government work
|
US government work | {{PD-USGov}}, Category:PD-USGov license tags |
 No known copyright restrictions
|
Unclear | {{Flickr-no known copyright restrictions}} Preferably add a tag like {{PD-old-70}} or {{PD-US-expired}} |
| No rights reserved | Public Domain | {{PD-author}} or {{PD-copyright holder}} (retired by Creative Commons) |
 Public domain
|
Public Domain Mark (PDM) | {{PD-old-70}}, {{PD-US-expired}}, USGov, etc. when labeling existing public domain works {{PDMark-owner}} when Flickr uploader is clearly the copyright holder, and not yourself {{Cc-zero}} when Flickr uploader is clearly yourself, better to also do convert on Flickr |
 All rights reserved
|
None |  NOT OK
|
  Some rights reserved
|
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs | NOT OK
|
| Some rights reserved
|
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike | NOT OK
|
| Some rights reserved
|
Attribution-NonCommercial | NOT OK
|
| Some rights reserved
|
Attribution-NoDerivs | NOT OK
|
License review
[edit]See also: Commons:License review. Commons uses a review process for verifying the copyright status of images uploaded from Flickr, which allows for the verification of freely licensed images by a bot or trusted user (admins and community approved users), as well as the identification of images where the Commons license is different. This method cannot tell if the image was ever freely available.
Questionable Flickr images
[edit]Some Flickr users may upload images they don't have the rights to and then incorrectly license those images as free. When Commons users with Flickr accounts do this in an attempt to upload non-free photos to Commons, this is known as "Flickr washing". Commons:Questionable Flickr images lists Flickr users and discussions where we have concluded that certain images marked as freely licensed on Flickr are too questionably licensed for Wikimedia Commons.
Guidelines
[edit]- Images should be tagged with {{Flickrreview}} for review by FlickreviewR 2 or an administrator.
- Images verified as freely available should be considered free, even if the license on Flickr changes.
- Images which are no longer freely available at time of review should be marked as possibly unfree pending a decision on what to do with them on Commons talk:Flickr files.
Static links
[edit]One problem when checking licenses of images coming from Flickr is some users provide the static link to the image on Flickr, instead of the description page showing the license. That makes the verification very difficult because you have to search Flickr images hoping you'll find the good tag that will lead you to the good image.
For reviewers, here is an easy way to find the description page from a static link: Extract the image ID from the static URL and append it to https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=. For instance, the description page of https://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/357298706_b406a56e06.jpg is available at https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=357298706.
Alternatively, use Flinfo and just input the static URL. Flinfo knows how to deal with a wide variety of Flickr URLs. (By the way: it can also retrieve information about images from other repositories, such as Picasa or panoramio.)
Other useful resources are the description of the file (not posts, but the resources themselves) naming scheme, and the API test tool.
Manual
[edit]Public Domain Mark
[edit]The Public Domain Mark (PDM) is a tool made by Creative Commons to mark works that are already known to be part of the public domain, but it does not specify why those works are in the public domain. Some photographers mark their own photographs with the PDM, believing that they are releasing their work into the public domain. After multiple discussions,[1] the consensus on Commons is that while Public Domain Mark is not intended to be used as a license, it is reasonable to conclude that when an author applies PDM to their own work, they are declaring their work to be in the public domain.
- If an individual selects PDM for their own work, use {{PD-author-FlickrPDM}}. Do not use {{PD-author}}, {{PD-copyright holder}} or {{Cc-zero}}.
PDM is frequently used on Flickr for works which are ineligible for copyright or where the copyright has expired. For example:
- If the work appears to be old (at least a few decades), licenses like {{PD-Italy}}, {{PD-old-70}} or {{PD-US-expired}} may apply.
- US government departments, like US Embassy Canada: Select the appropriate PD-USGov license tag.
- State government departments in some US states, like California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Select the appropriate state PD- license tag.
Such works can be uploaded, but you must figure out first what license applies! If you need help, ask on the copyright village pump.
The Commons on Flickr
[edit]The Commons on Flickr hosts a number of files from various institutions that state that they have "No known copyright restrictions".
What this means for Wikimedia Commons is unclear, and be aware that some institutions (such as the Smithsonian Institution's Terms of Use) flatly contradict “No known copyright restrictions”, asserting copyright and “No commercial use”. One must thus be cautious about uploading such images to Wikimedia Commons.
See: {{Flickr-no known copyright restrictions}} and mail on commons-l, with discussion by George Oates, Flickr employee heading The Commons, expressing some reservations (The Commons on Flickr announcement).
Searching Flickr
[edit]A great way of finding images on Flickr that can be uploaded to Commons is by using their search tools. You can start on a simple search (limited to freely licensed images), then enter a query.
Or, on the