Flick'r, Photos and Images

This is Oscar, the Jack Russel that shares my house with myself and Achara my rottweiler.

I love the Flick'r site and am amazed at how many talented photographers there are out there. It is interesting to see the different paranoia level of people, some have absolutely everything marked private, and others are happy to have photos of their kids in the bath on-line for everyone to see. I have already used Flick'r to put up photos for my family to see - really exciting things like my garden and new shed and I am happy to put Oscar up - but don't think I'd put any photos of myself or my human family.

Podcamp photos are up and available for all to see, and I can see that many uses for Flick'r - but I think the privacy issue is a big one. I am amazed at how thoroughly some people document their lives - nothing can happen without it being recorded on a blog, wiki or by photos on Flick'r. This raises issues for people whose lives intersect with those committed to this documentation. If I go to a conference, do I have the right to refuse to have my photo on the conference's Flick'r site? I have only been asked by one company (and the fact it was a commerical conference may be significant here) if I would object to my photo being put up. Other people happily put up photos taken at public events, and don't think of it as any sort of invasion of privacy against those that appear, sometimes without knowing, in those photos.

I think you also have to be aware of the rights you declare on your Flick'r photos. I am sure most of us have heard the story of the girl who put up a photo of herself whispering with a friend, and found herself appearing in a Virgin Phone ad with the caption "Virgin to Virgin" under her photo. She had put her photo up as "public domain" so anyone had the right to use it anyway they wanted. Virgin broke no laws and she didn't have any legal recourse, but it has become a cautionary tale for Flick'r users.

Copyright is a big issue with things on Flick'r. Some people have very generously giving up all rights to their stuff and made them part of the public domain. A number of people have done this will photos of alphabetic characters (also called letters ;) ). I used some of these to do the JSTOR title for my last presentation. I was happy with the way it turned out and think the letter collections on Flick'r are a great resource.