Google adds licence filter to image search

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 10 Jul 2009 at 15:47

Google has added the ability to filter image results by their usage license, in an attempt to keep people from inadvertently reusing copyrighted material.

The new options can be found under the "advanced search" section and allow people to search for photos that are available for reuse, commercial reuse, reuse with modification, or commercial use with modification.

"We believe that we've made it easier for people to find images they can use while helping artists who've made their images available under these licenses to gain exposure for their work," write software engineers Lance Huang and George Ruban on the Google blog.

While the Google filter takes into account the various Creative Commons and GNU Free Documentation licenses, the search giant admits it's not foolproof and recommends that anybody looking to reuse content first check with the owner.

"We can help you take the first step towards finding these images, but we can't guarantee that the content we linked to is actually in the public domain, or available under the licence," the blog states.