Protest image

The protest over flickr censoring certain countries is continuing and as part of that I have marked all of my images as private. No great loss to the photography world but I did it anyway.This issue is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem, lawyers. The law is an arse, it has nothing to do with what is right and wrong, it is merely a weapon. The more skilled the weilder the more damage they can inflict. Yahoo/Flickr is scared that someone better than them will come and cut off their balls. They really don't have to worry, they don't have any.Flickr's arrogance is growing at an exponential rate, this is just the latest symptom. Instead of fixing the deeper problem they are just running around trying to put out the fires. The forest of resentment has been drying out for some time now, the censorship of certain country's was the spark that ignited the firestorm that they could have prevented quite easily.Some of the other canary's falling dead:1. No warning no explaination, just marking people's account as NIPSA just because of nudity. I have a contact that is basically all nude shots. I have no problem showing them to my kids (son 10, daughter 7).2. No warning, no explaination, just deleting images as explained here and here. 3. No warning, no explaination, just filtering links to external sites.About point 1, for some stupid reason in the USA, nudity = porn. They seem to think that we are all just basic animals with no control over our urges and that if we see nakedness we will have to whip out our cocks and fuck it.The excuse that I have seen from the flicrk staff about more stringent age verification has been shot to shit by responses and examples from people that live in Germany. They are applying the nudity = porn US paradigm to a location where it doesn't apply.The protest has sparked such resentment because flickr belongs to us not Yahoo, we create the groups, we post and dicuss the topics, we post the photos, we make the friends and contacts, we promote it to our unenlightened photography friends, we wear flickr badges and stickers. It is us that have made flickr what it is, we have invested so much time, effort and passion into the place that it is just mind boggling.The censorship protest struck cord because is the most glaring and the latest example that flickr has changed from the referee to a dictator. Besides the fact that no-one likes a dictator we realise with so much of ourselves invested here that to go elsewhere would just about be impossible. Even if there was another site that gave the same or roughly the same features it would be starting from scratch.$1,000 to a dead dogs arsehole once flickr change the Germany censorship problem that people will think we won, sorry folks until they change their policy of disclosure the next fire is only a matter of time.They should grow some balls, stop listening to the lawyers so much and take some risks. Take a look at the SCO v IBM debarcle, the Linux community responded with such force and passion they shot the SCO case full of so many holes they were dead before they hit the ground.Do they think the flickr community would not respond to a threat to their territory in a similar fashion?... oh that's right they just found that how we respond to threats to our place, only flickr are on the wrong side of the fence... Protest image
Harry Phillips "tuxcomputers" Photo © June 15 2007

The protest over flickr censoring certain countries is continuing and as part of that I have marked all of my images as private. No great loss to the photography world but I did it anyway. This issue is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem, lawyers. The law is an arse, it has nothing to do with what is right and wrong, it is merely a weapon. The more skilled the weilder the more damage they can inflict. Yahoo/Flickr is scared that someone better than them will come and cut off their balls. They really don't have to worry, they don't have any. Flickr's arrogance is growing at an exponential rate, this is just the latest symptom. Instead of fixing the deeper problem they are just running around trying to put out the fires. The forest of resentment has been drying out for some time now, the censorship of certain country's was the spark that ignited the firestorm that they could have prevented quite easily. Some of the other canary's falling dead: 1. No warning no explaination, just marking people's account as NIPSA just because of nudity. I have a contact that is basically all nude shots. I have no problem showing them to my kids (son 10, daughter 7). 2. No warning, no explaination, just deleting images as explained here and here. 3. No warning, no explaination, just filtering links to external sites. About point 1, for some stupid reason in the USA, nudity = porn. They seem to think that we are all just basic animals with no control over our urges and that if we see nakedness we will have to whip out our cocks and fuck it. The excuse that I have seen from the flicrk staff about "more stringent" age verification has been shot to shit by responses and examples from people that live in Germany. They are applying the nudity = porn US paradigm to a location where it doesn't apply. The protest has sparked such resentment because flickr belongs to us not Yahoo, we create the groups, we post and dicuss the topics, we post the photos, we make the friends and contacts, we promote it to our unenlightened photography friends, we wear flickr badges and stickers. It is us that have made flickr what it is, we have invested so much time, effort and passion into the place that it is just mind boggling. The censorship protest struck cord because is the most glaring and the latest example that flickr has changed from the referee to a dictator. Besides the fact that no-one likes a dictator we realise with so much of ourselves invested here that to go elsewhere would just about be impossible. Even if there was another site that gave the same or roughly the same features it would be starting from scratch. $1,000 to a dead dogs arsehole once flickr change the Germany censorship problem that people will think we won, sorry folks until they change their policy of disclosure the next fire is only a matter of time. They should grow some balls, stop listening to the lawyers so much and take some risks. Take a look at the SCO v IBM debarcle, the Linux community responded with such force and passion they shot the SCO case full of so many holes they were dead before they hit the ground. Do they think the flickr community would not respond to a threat to their territory in a similar fashion?... oh that's right they just found that how we respond to threats to our place, only flickr are on the wrong side of the fence...  

.steve.t .steve.t You've raised a good point. WE, the user base do the creative work, it's our work, our TIME and effort. And guess what, all that work can be deleted, that's right. It has happened to a lot of people, but when it happened to a Flickr * guess what, it became a BIG issue. And that's in part because it got picked up by the general media sphere and created lots of negative publicity. And in spite of apologies that work couldn't be brought back - it was gone. I was on Flickr many months before it got bought/sold to Yahoo! and it was a pretty good place. That isn't true anymore. What a shame. Can it be redeemed? In Yahoo!'s hands - I don't think so. And the funny thing is all the talk of them and M$ getting together. Posted: June 15 2007
d200 dug No censorship! d200 dug No censorship! www.flickr.com/groups/355099@N25/ History teaches us we do not have to fear those who allow freedom of thought and expression and that we should fear those who tell us what to see read and think! Posted: June 15 2007
tuxcomputers tuxcomputers @d70dug: There is already a protest group here, almost 9,000 members since yesterday. Posted: June 15 2007
d200 dug No censorship! d200 dug No censorship! Thanks I just joined the group and will be posting my photos there as well. Posted: June 15 2007
Ice Nine Ice Nine Yahoo and Microsoft - I can't imagine anything better. Except maybe Google and Microsoft. Posted: June 16 2007
Mr. Sinistrus Mr. Sinistrus _GOD DAMN THIS IS GOOD, PLEASE HELP US POLLUTE THE DIGITAL WORLD!!!, we'd love to have your photo added to the group. Posted: June 17 2007
teejaybee teejaybee Well said. Posted: June 18 2007
helter-skelter helter-skelter word! Posted: June 18 2007
jallen jallen "To Be" dragonhide reading your thoughts is seriously a breath of fresh air.. you put into words so many things that I felt viscerally but never put into words. Thanks Posted: July 03 2007
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