Google: Search for Creative Commons License and License-Free Information

Tagged: Google

Google has recently added the ability to search for copyright-free, license-free information.

Looking through the results returned, I am not sure how google decides what information has a license and what does not. Information under the Creative Common License is included in this search.

How to Search for License-Free or Creative Common License Material:

1. Goto google advance search
2. Input your search text in the Find Results box
3. Under Usage Rights select:
can be freely modified, adapted, or built upon
4. Hit the Google Search button

Here’s a license-free search for XP

At the top of the search page you can easily see the option to search for license material or not:
Search only pages that can be freely modified, adapted or built upon

Examing the URL you can see the new search options…

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=xp&as_rights=%28cc_publicdomain%7Ccc_attribute%29.-%28cc_noncommercial%7Ccc_nonderived%7Ccc_sharealike%29

cc_publicdomain
cc_attribute
cc_noncommerical
cc_nonderived
cc_sharealike

It’ll be interesting to see how google makes these determinations. If you try to isolate these options, google gives a server error.

If you can find any hacks based on this search, please post them in the comments below.