But it’s still fun to see how Flickr is giving it to users at both ends. Like me! I have a bunch of important things to write about Monday (news, murder and scandal, my SFSI.org day today). Yet, let’s indulge the TOU and see if Alice can manage to drink the right potion to restore her account…
From Flickr Pro TOU (http://www.flickr.com/atos/pro/):
9. OBJECTIONABLE MATERIAL
You understand that by using Flickr pro, you may encounter content
that may be deemed offensive, indecent, or objectionable, which
content may or may not be identified as having explicit subject
matter. Nevertheless, you agree to use Flickr pro at your sole risk
and that Flickr shall not have any liability to you for content that
may be found to be offensive, indecent, or objectionable.
From Yahoo TOU (http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html):
a.
upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content
that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious,
defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy,
hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
…
k.
intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state,
national or international law, including, but not limited to,
regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange,
including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the
American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the
force of law;
…
You acknowledge that Yahoo! may or may not pre-screen Content, but
that Yahoo! and its designees shall have the right (but not the
obligation) in their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, or remove
any Content that is available via the Service. Without limiting the
foregoing, Yahoo! and its designees shall have the right to remove any
Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable.
From Flickr Community Guidelines (http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne):
What to do
…
Do moderate your content:
You need to take responsibility for ensuring that what you upload is
appropriately flagged. If your judgment proves to be poor, we’ll
moderate your account to match appropriate ratings for safe search
and/or content type and send you a warning.
…
What not to do
Here’s the deal: In most circumstances, we like to give second
chances, so we’ll send you a warning if you step across any of the
lines listed below. Subsequent violations can result in account
termination without warning.
…
Don’t forget the children:
Take the opportunity to filter your content responsibly. If you would
hesitate to show your photos to a child, your mum, or Uncle Bob, that
means it needs to be filtered. So, ask yourself that question as you
upload your photos and moderate accordingly. If you don’t, it’s likely
that one of two things will happen. Your account will be reviewed then
either moderated or terminated by Flickr staff.
…
Other People (their content, their behavior):
You will see all sorts of things on Flickr, some of which may offend
you. If you are offended by a photo you can either click away from the
photo or you can mark it as poorly moderated by clicking on the “Flag
this photo” link on a photo page under “Additional Information”. If
you think there’s immediate cause for concern, you can report content
and/or someone’s behavior to Flickr staff.
From FAQ ( http://www.flickr.com/help/filters/#257 ):
What are content filters?
Flickr is a global community made up of many different kinds of
people. What’s OK in your back yard may not be OK in theirs. Each one
of us bears the responsibility of categorizing our own content within
this landscape. So, we’ve introduced some filters to help everyone try
to get along.
There are 2 types of filters that you need to use for your content.
1. Safety Level
* Safe – Content suitable for a global, public audience
* Moderate – If you’re not sure whether your content is suitable
for a global, public audience but you think that it doesn’t need to be
restricted per se, this category is for you
* Restricted – This is content you probably wouldn’t show to your
mum, and definitely shouldn’t be seen by kids
…
What is SafeSearch?
SafeSearch is a feature that allows you to control what turns up in
your searches on Flickr, and it’s on for everyone by default.
Note: If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Hong Kong or Korea you
will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of
Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off. If your Yahoo! ID is
based in Germany you are not able to view restricted content due to
your local Terms of Service.
…
My account has been reviewed as moderate. What does that mean?
Having a “moderate” flag on your account probably means that you are
generally a good self-moderator, but occasionally things pop up in
your photostream that may be in the wrong categories. Staff hear about
this sort of thing because your fellow members can flag photos around
the site if they feel that you have categorized things incorrectly, or
they may even send a report to us that some of your content is
offensive.
…
Where do I set the safety level on my photos?
You can set a default safety level for photos you upload, on a page in
Your Account. Whatever you set here will carry through to any/all
upload methods you use.
You can also change whatever default you’ve set per photo or batch as
you upload, and after your content is uploaded. There are batch
editing tools available in the Organizr, and on the page where you see
one of your photos, there’s a “Flag your photo” link under the
Additional Information heading where you can also change the safety
level.
…
How do I know if I’m doing the right thing?
What an excellent question.
Flickr will never be able to provide a comprehensive list of what
content should fall in which bucket. This is simply impossible to do
on a global scale.
That’s why we wrote the Community Guidelines, to give you a sense of
the sort of things that are allowed or not, and what will happen if
you publish content that doesn’t follow those guidelines.
The most important thing for you to remember when you’re moderating
your own content is that Flickr is used by millions of people of all
ages from all over the world. We’re relying on you to use your best
judgement about whether or not you think the content you publish would
be offensive to anyone in this enormous public space. If you even have
a hint of a doubt, you should use a different safety level.
The other simple question is whether or not you’d feel comfortable
showing the content you publish to a child, or your mother, or someone
you’re sitting next to on a bus. If the answer is no, the content
should be restricted.
If it turns out that you judge “the right thing” poorly, the community
will probably speak out. If we receive complaints about your content,
we will take action, in line with the Community Guidelines. You really
should take a moment to read them.
