I've been putting together some graphics for a Bernie website, and I've had some difficulty finding some images that are free for use.

Legally, you can't just use an image in a banner or republish it. Yes, everyone does it, but you can still get hit with a takedown request or some kind of letter demanding payment for use of the image.

One of the great features of Indymedia is that it has a simple license for re-use of images for noncommercial purposes: it's allowed.

This is more liberal than what's allowed by stock photo companies - they have one very permissive, but expensive license called "commercial" which allows all kinds of re-uses. There's another called "editorial" which usually means the photo can be used to illustrate a story.

Indymedia's license allows use on non-commercial websites. I interpret this means both news orgs that don't carry ads, and not-for-profit projects that don't have ads or use the photos to make money. Not only that, but there's no contract to sign.

Due to the litigious behavior of photo agencies and some publications, it's no longer easy or safe to reuse images for political purposes. It can get expensive. So, people doing graphic arts could really use a site like IMC to provide image for re-use in political projects.

Please, if you have an event photo, consider posting it. It would be nice to have some Bernie event photos, especially of panoramic images or "active" images, posted to some IMC sites so people could reuse them.