Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that aims to make copyright restrictions more balanced, by offering a variety of licensing types. If these licenses are implemented, they allow the creator(s) to retain copyright but also grant certain permissions to others. All images in this box are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The descriptions have been adapted from the ones found on About the Licenses and also fall under CC BY 4.0.
CC BY – must give attribution to original authors, but others can modify, even for commercial use; if there are modifications they must be noted
CC BY-SA – must give attribution to original authors and also have same license for modified works; modifications must be noted
CC BY-ND – must give attribution to original authors, and may be freely redistributed; no modifications to original allowed
CC BY-NC – must give attribution to original authors, no commercial modification allowed; non-commercial users may modify and must note modifications
CC BY-NC-SA – same as CC BY-NC, except modified works must have the same license; modifications must be noted
CC BY-NC-ND – the most restrictive: must give attribution to original authors, can share, but no modification allowed to original