TL;DR: Proposing a family of photo licenses to boost the Steem ecosystem and help photographers create passive reward streams.

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This is an idea that I had years ago, but never did anything with. I always expected that the photographers would come up with it with no help from me. I'm actually surprised that nobody else ever pursued it (or if they did, I'm surprised that I didn't learn about it). Now that I'm posting my own photographs pretty regularly, though...

What if we had a license that was modeled after the creative commons licenses but with two special extensions for the Steem blockchain?

1. Photos under this license can only be reused for posting on the Steem blockchain. They may not be posted on web2.0 sites, and they may not be posted on derivative chains.
2. The photographer can specify a required beneficiary setting. (i.e. if you're going to use my photo, then set a 5% beneficiary to my Steem account when you post it.)

After years of doing nothing with the idea, today I finally asked Microsoft Copilot to create some model licenses for me. The result is below

I'm not a lawyer, and neither is Microsoft Copilot, so consider these examples as draft suggestions for discussion purposes.

Steem‑Restricted Photo License (SRPL) — Master License Page

Version 1.0 — Public Release

The Steem‑Restricted Photo License (SRPL) is a family of copyright licenses designed for creators who want to freely share photos within the Steem blockchain, while retaining control over how their work is used elsewhere.
SRPL licenses mirror the structure of permissive Creative Commons licenses but add two blockchain‑specific conditions:

1. Steem‑Only Use
The licensed photo (and any permitted derivatives) may be used only when displayed in a post published on the Steem blockchain.

2. Optional Beneficiary Requirement
The creator may require a specific beneficiary percentage to be assigned to their Steem account whenever the photo is used.

All SRPL licenses allow commercial use within Steem.

The SRPL family includes four variants:

• SRPL‑0 — Most permissive (CC0‑like)
• SRPL‑BY — Attribution required (CC‑BY‑like)
• SRPL‑ND — No derivatives (CC‑BY‑ND‑like)
• SRPL‑SA — Share‑alike (CC‑BY‑SA‑like)

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1. SRPL‑0 — Steem‑Restricted Photo License (Zero Attribution)

Version 1.0

Permission Granted
The creator (“Licensor”) grants any person (“User”) permission to copy, display, remix, transform, and use the licensed photo for any purpose, including commercial use, provided that the photo is used exclusively within a post published on the Steem blockchain.

Restrictions

• Use outside the Steem blockchain is not permitted without separate written permission.
• No attribution is required.
• The Licensor may specify a required beneficiary percentage.
• No additional legal or technological restrictions may be applied.
• The photo is provided “as‑is,” without warranty.

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2. SRPL‑BY — Steem‑Restricted Photo License (Attribution Required)

Version 1.0

Identical to SRPL‑0, with one additional requirement:

Attribution
When using the photo in a Steem post, the User must provide reasonable attribution to the Licensor, including at minimum the Licensor’s Steem username.

Example: Photo by @username (SRPL‑BY 1.0)

All other terms match SRPL‑0.

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3. SRPL‑ND — Steem‑Restricted Photo License (No Derivatives)

Version 1.0

Permission Granted
The User may copy, display, and use the licensed photo for any purpose, including commercial use, provided that the photo is used exclusively within a Steem post.

Restrictions

• No derivatives: The photo must be used exactly as provided.
• Use outside Steem is prohibited without separate permission.
• The Licensor may specify a required beneficiary percentage.
• Attribution is optional unless the Licensor designates the photo as SRPL‑ND‑BY.
• No additional legal or technological restrictions may be applied.
• The photo is provided “as‑is,” without warranty.

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4. SRPL‑SA — Steem‑Restricted Photo License (Share‑Alike)

Version 1.0

Permission Granted
The User may copy, display, remix, transform, and create derivative works based on the licensed photo for any purpose, including commercial use, provided that the photo or any derivative is used exclusively within a Steem post.

Restrictions

• Share‑Alike: Any derivative work must be released under the same SRPL‑SA variant (SRPL‑SA‑0 or SRPL‑SA‑BY).
• Use outside Steem is prohibited without separate permission.
• The Licensor may specify a required beneficiary percentage.
• Attribution is optional unless the Licensor designates the photo as SRPL‑SA‑BY.
• No additional legal or technological restrictions may be applied.
• The photo is provided “as‑is,” without warranty.

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Choosing a Variant

Variant	Modification Allowed	Attribution Required	Share‑Alike	Commercial Use	Steem‑Only	Beneficiary Option
SRPL‑0	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
SRPL‑BY	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
SRPL‑ND	No	Optional	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
SRPL‑SA	Yes	Optional	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

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How to Apply an SRPL License to Your Photo

Example (with beneficiary):
License: SRPL‑BY 1.0
Creator: @yourname
Required Beneficiary: 10%
This photo may be used in any Steem post with attribution and a 10% beneficiary to @yourname.

Example (no attribution, no beneficiary):
License: SRPL‑0 1.0
Creator: @yourname
Required Beneficiary: None
This photo may be used in any Steem post without attribution.

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Legal Notes

• SRPL licenses are non‑exclusive and may be revoked only for future users who have not yet accessed the work.
• Any use outside the Steem blockchain requires separate permission from the Licensor.
• These licenses do not affect the Licensor’s moral rights where applicable.
• The SRPL family is not affiliated with Creative Commons but is inspired by its structure.

My thinking is that photographers can publish their posts with a standard tag, maybe "srpl", and then authors can reuse Steem's home grown photos instead of going to sites like pixabay. Even better than a tag, the posts could go in dedicated topic-based communities so that moderators could mute plagiarized images.

Eventually, custom front ends could make the whole process easier. A bonus is that the authors can reuse the image URLs instead of actually uploading the images, and this might actually reduce storage costs for Steemit and other front ends.

Yes, there are certainly compliance and enforcement challenges, but that's no worse than the existing challenges we have at preventing plagiarism.

Pros:

• Photographers get the potential for long-term reward streams from their work.
• Steem gets a new use-case.
• URL reuse creates a potential for storage cost reductions for Steem front-end providers.

Cons:

• Compliance is currently unenforceable at scale (but no worse than existing plagiarism challenges). At the beginning, it can be implemented as a social protocol for the community.
• The process will be clunky until a supporting cast of tools is developed. This creates a potential chicken and egg problem. As with the CC family of licenses, these licenses can be parsed by future tools in the ecosystem.

After reviewing community feedback, I'm thinking about maybe releasing my future wildlife photos under a license like one of these.

Thoughts?