Copyright and Permissions Guide

Global Voices Copyright & Permissions Guide

The world's legal systems have not quite caught up with the explosion of personally-generated content on the Internet. Perhaps they never will. But although much is in flux, regional editors and authors should still follow a few simple rules when posting other people's content.

For text:

1) Link, and link freely.

2) If you quote, quote blog posts and news articles judiciously. The most pertinent paragraphs are often enough. Reposting an entire, lengthy post or a whole news article is probably unnecessary.

For photo:

1) Link, and link freely.

2) If you wish to repost a photograph, that means copying the photograph and uploading it onto our site. So check first whether the photograph's owner has licensed it under Creative Commons. That often — but not always — means that the photograph's owner has permitted the photograph's copying and distribution. To tell for sure, check the license itself, which you can almost always access by clicking the “CC” badge or link, if one is available. (Never heard of Creative Commons? Click here, here and here to learn more.)

3) Be careful. Photographs on websites, even on Flickr, sometimes do not belong to the website's owner or account holder. If a photograph looks like it may have been lifted from a news agency or other professional source, either ask the website owner or person who posted the picture, or err on the side of caution and refrain from reposting it on Global Voices.

4) Never upload or post copyrighted photographs without contacting the owner first for permission. It never hurts to try, and many times you'll get it.

For audio:

1) Link, and link freely.

2) If you wish to post part or all of someone else's podcast, first check whether it is licensed under Creative Commons (and check the license). If not, then email the podcaster for permission to upload and post it on Global Voices.

3) Again, be careful. If a podcast contains music, the music may be copyrighted and owned by another. Never upload or post on Global Voices podcasts that contain copyrighted music or compositions, although you can link to the podcasts.

For video:

1) Link, and link freely.

2) You've probably figured it out by now: check if the video has a Creative Commons license. If not, email the owner for permission.

3) One more time: take care. A video that contains scenes lifted from movies or video games lies in a gray area. Until the law governing such creations is clearer, it's always better to link rather than to repost.