Google has added new options to its image search tool to let users filter results by usage rights, in an effort to keep people from incorrectly re-using or re-purposing images.
In a blog post on Thursday, Google said that users can now filter photos by whether they are available for re-use, commercial re-use, re-use with modification, or commercial use with modification. The filter is found on the advanced image search page, in a section called 'usuge rights'.
"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 licences to gain exposure for their work," Lance Huang and George Ruban, software engineers at Google, wrote on the blog.
The Google filter covers a variety of licensing methods, including Creative Commons, GNU Free Documentation licence, and items that are in the public domain. Its system for determining the rights on various shots is not foolproof, Google concedes, and it recommends that those who are interested in re-publishing or re-working any of the images try to check with the content 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," Huang and Ruban wrote.
Some content owners have chosen in the past to block Google's indexing to keep others from easily reusing their photos.
Google has not rolled out licence filtering to any of its other properties, such as Google Books and Video. In the meantime, there are several search tools that let users quickly seek out images that can be reused and remixed including the Creative Commons search engine, Flickr, Blip.tv, ArtistServer, The Internet Archive, WikiHow, and Wikipedia.
