Can Flickr sell your pictures

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I think it's a cheap shot by Yahoo!, but hardly surprising.

Also, if you don't understand Creative Commons licensing, maybe, just maaaaaaaaybe... you shouldn't be using it?

yes they can....when you sign up, you supposedly sign over all your rights t your photos. That's why I don't use Flicker much.
You do not surrender ownership or copyright of your photo's by uploading them to Flickr. The people pissed off about the photos being sold have specifically given their photo's a Creative Commons license. This is a specific action on *their* part. These users apparently didn't realize the implications of what they were doing, Yahoo! is capitalizing on their decision and the users are all pissed off about it.

....
 
Last edited:

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
@Horoscope Fish....I read a few years ago somewhere that Yahoo could use and sell your photos if uploaded. That's one reason I was surprised so many photographers here on Nikonites use Flickr. I did read the article posted and it is still somewhat convoluted. I wish it could be explained more clearly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though. I will re-read the article.
 
Last edited:

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
@Horoscope Fish....I read a few years ago somewhere that Yahoo could use and sell your photos if uploaded. I did read the article posted and it is still somewhat convoluted. I wish it could be explained more clearly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though. I will re-read the article.
I certainly don't understand all the in's-and-out's of copyright law but this is clearly a "tempest in a teapot".

.....
 

paul04

Senior Member
I've just had a look on flickr, on the info screen of your pictures, what does all this mean,
you can change it to which one you want

cut.jpg
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I've just had a look on flickr, on the info screen of your pictures, what does all this mean,
you can change it to which one you want

View attachment 127728

Creative Commons licenses allow you, the copyright holder, to license your work (let's just assume this means your photos) for others to use. For an explanation take a look at their website. There are brief summations of what all those options mean, along with as much legalese you can handle should you choose to dive in.

The key word, commonly, is "commercial". That means "make money", "sell", etc. and is a point many people apparently miss. The long and short of it, in my mind, is this: if you want to maintain full control over your photo's, do nothing. You can only *give up* some degree of control by licensing. If you choose to license, you should fully understand what it is you are giving up and what you are getting in exchange.

....
 
Last edited:

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
So is this the best option

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

If dealing with normal people the "all rights reserved " should be the one
 

AC016

Senior Member

No surprise there. I have forever questioned "photo dump" sites like Flikr. Just think about it: a corporation like yahoo is giving you a large amount of space, for "free". Nothing is free. I think in it's infancy, the people developing sites like Flikr, knew at an early stage that they were sitting on a gold mine. Obviously, Flikr is a great way to share photos; but again, nothing is free. This is why i have never gone the route of Flikr or similar sites. It's one of those things that i see as being to good to be true. Though, what are "photographers" supposed to do? Even if you develop your own site, you still take the risk of someone "stealing" your photos. However, you have more control with your own site i believe. If i were a Flikr user, i would take all my photos down. But does that mean that they are actually deleted?? Hmmmmm
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
If you just want to protect your photos from others using them then the best option, in my opinion, is to do nothing. Rights to your photo's are inherent by virtue of you having created them. Flickr respects your copyright. Other people may not, but Flickr does. Flickr is taking advantage of people who have surrendered their rights via the Creative Commons license. Had these people done nothing, they would not be in this situation.

....
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
[MENTION=13090]Horoscope Fish[/MENTION] - I would like to get into a discussion later (constructive) but have to leave in about 15 minutes or so to take my wife to the Dr. She's ok, but needs a checkup. I have seen this same debate, even though I beleive we're on the same side as photogs. I agree with you that you better know what you're signing over as far as rights go before you sign. I wonder if you can change your mind and if Flickr has an avenue onboard their site to go to to enable you to do so seamlessly? I'll be back later today and hopefully we can get into an interesting dialogue.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
@Horoscope Fish - I would like to get into a discussion later (constructive) but have to leave in about 15 minutes or so to take my wife to the Dr. She's ok, but needs a checkup. I have seen this same debate, even though I beleive we're on the same side as photogs. I agree with you that you better know what you're signing over as far as rights go before you sign. I wonder if you can change your mind and if Flickr has an avenue onboard their site to go to to enable you to do so seamlessly? I'll be back later today and hopefully we can get into an interesting dialogue.
I'll be around... :D
 

SteveH

Senior Member
Don't forget that you can set software such as Lightroom to set the copyright automatically on import, so you don't accidentally export photos with incorrect copyright info - Flickr picks the setting out of you photo's metadata.
 

Eyelight

Senior Member
I've just had a look on flickr, on the info screen of your pictures, what does all this mean,
you can change it to which one you want

View attachment 127728

Here is a link to what they each mean. About The Licenses - Creative Commons

If using Creative Commons licensing, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND would be the most restrictive.

I agree with the article's idea that people simply didn't (don't) understand what they agreed (are agreeing) to.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Since some people obviously aren't bothering to read the article, let's be clear about this:

1. Flickr absolutely respects copyright laws on photos you own and upload to Flickr. Your photo, your copyright. Period. You need do NOTHING to copyright your own work and uploading it to Flickr does *nothing* to waive your rights to ownership or copyright.

2. Some Flickr uploaders voluntarily chose to license their photo's using a license they did not fully understand and in so doing, granted rights to others. Some of the rights those specific users voluntarily surrendered were commercial in nature.

....
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Since some people obviously aren't bothering to read the article, let's be clear about this:

1. Flickr absolutely respects copyright laws on photos you own and upload to Flickr. Your photo, your copyright. Period. You need do NOTHING to copyright your own work and uploading it to Flickr does *nothing* to waive your rights to ownership or copyright.

2. Some Flickr uploaders voluntarily chose to license their photo's using a license they did not fully understand and in so doing, granted rights to others. Some of the rights those specific users voluntarily surrendered were commercial in nature.

....

How can you check to see if you chose a license or not? I went to Flickr's site and don't see anywhere to check. I'm gonna check again.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I found the Commons, and this is part of what it stated:

"TO REVIEW THE EXPLICIT RIGHTS STATEMENT FOR ANY IMAGE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE RELEVANT LINK UNDER "PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS," OR ON THE "NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS" LINK ASSOCIATED WITH THE IMAGE IN THE COMMONS."

I guess we have to click on the relevant link under "participating institutions. I'm gonna try that for my flickr and see how I'm registered.
 
Top