CC Licenses in Action
Smithsonian Open Access social media toolkit image
Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images and Data into the Public Domain Using CC0
The Smithsonian—the world's largest museum and research institution—recently announced Smithsonian Open Access, an initiative that removes copyright restrictions from 2.8 million digital 2D and 3D images and nearly two centuries of data.
This major initiative uses CC0—Creative Commons' public domain dedication tool—to make millions of images and data freely available to the public.
We're excited to see this initiative come to fruition as members of the Creative Commons team, including our Interim CEO/Director of Open Education Cable Green, General Counsel Diane Peters, and CC GLAM platform lead Evelin Heidel have worked with the Smithsonian for the past few years on its open access policy. Thanks also to all of the CC alum (e.g., Jane Park, Ryan Merkley, and more) who worked with the Smithsonian in prior years.
Here's who else recently released works into the public domain:
- Biodiversity Heritage Library released 150,000+ images and sketches
- Paris Musées released 100,000+ works
- Sketchfab will now support CC0 on its platform, including all of the Smithsonian's 3D models and scans!
- Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo released historical images using CC0
P.s. Know of anyone else? Send us a note!
CC's AI Argument
Why We're Advocating for a Cautious Approach to Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
On 14 February 2020, Creative Commons submitted its comments on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Issues Paper as part of the WIPO's consultation process on artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property (IP).
In this post, we briefly present our main arguments for a cautious approach to regulating AI through copyright or any new IP rights.
See https://creativecommons.org/2020/02/20/cautious-approach-to-copyright-and-artificial-intelligence/
Introducing the Linked Commons
"Linked Commons" screenshot by Creative Commons, CC BY
The Linked Commons is a visualization that shows how the Commons is digitally connected. This was a project by Google Summer of Code participant Maria Belen Guaranda and we are grateful for her work!
See https://creativecommons.org/2020/01/23/introducing-the-linked-commons/