Yesterday, I received a message that blew my mind. In a post that I wrote for another blog last summer, I had included an image that I found in Flikr’s Creative Commons directory. This image was posted under a license requiring anyone using it to attribute the image to them.

(NOTE: Image above is not the image in question)

Of course, when I placed the image in the post, I included the image’s title, the photographer, and finally, a link back.

And Then Things Changed

The message that was sent to me went like this:

At the time that you posted the picture, it did have a Creative Commons License. . . . That said, at this point, the picture now has full copyright protection with ‘all rights reserved’. Since I have not given you permission to use my picture, would you kindly remove it from your site?

Of course, I respected their wishes and removed the image, but am I the only one who sees a problem with all of this?

Once you grant open access to your works and people start to use those works, how on earth do you come forward and ask for them to stop? Am I crazy, or is that akin to Amazon deleting the Orwell books on your Kindle?

Why Change Your Work from Open Source to Pay to Play?

I guess I don’t understand what inspires someone to go back on their promise to give the world free access to their works. Even if they do, who goes and hunts down everyone who has used that content and demands it be taken down?

Its all a bit funny to me . . . I guess I’m just still trying to process it.

Photo Credit: TilarX

Tags: Copyright, Creative Commons, Creative Commons licenses, flikr, Open source