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Are Flickr Images Abused By Foreign Businesses?

Posted by samzenpus on from the unknown-spokesperson dept.

eldavojohn writes "My friend Drew was notified via Twitter that one of his Flickr images had been selected as poster child for freeloaders who abuse the benefits system in an Elsevier news story in the Netherlands. The original image clearly gives an CC BY-NC 2.0 license to the image which doesn't appear in the story — a story which generates revenue for Elsevier. My friend doesn't speak Dutch so he's a little confused about what, if anything, he can do in this situation. I'm reminded of a family's Christmas photo showing up on a billboard in Prague and I wonder if photo sharing sites are treated as free to abuse regardless of copyright by foreign businesses? Has anyone else heard of this sort of thing happening with images from social photo sharing sites?"

5 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. How can you be a freeloader? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    When information wants to be free?

    1. Re:How can you be a freeloader? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      You must be new here. Information only wants to be free when I don't want to pay for it.

  2. Re:Why do you do it? by rmstar · · Score: 3, Funny

    But why on earth would anyone want to put up their family photos for the whole world to see in the first place?

    Very good question. Given how almost everybody does that, it should not be difficult to find out. Maybe someone who does can enlighten us? Here on /.?

    I fear, however, that the answer will lead to even more troubling questions.

  3. Flickr's recommendation by ILuvRamen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Flickr just announced its list of ways to counteract foreign photo stealing for stock photo-like purposes:
    1. be really ugly
    2. have a cheap, crappy camera
    3. just take really bad, crooked, blurry shots
    4. Photoshop a cheesy top hat, moustache, and monacle onto all your photos

    It looks like a lot of folks on Flickr have already implemented these security measures.

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  4. isnt there a rule about this by grapeape · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you dont want your pictures all over the internet...dont put them on the internet. Sorry but whining about the use of pictures placed on imgur or flickr is the equivalent of dumping a pile of random pictures on a table in the break room of a busy office then complaining when one of them shows up on someones desk.