Google has recently added the ability to search for copyright-free, license-free information. This tutorial explains how you can take advantage of this feature.
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. Go to google advanced 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 is 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 as follows:
- 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 will 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.
