On 23/01/07, David Monniaux David.Monniaux@free.fr wrote:
Brianna Laugher a écrit :
Hi all,
I just started a group on Flickr called "Wikimedia Commons". I encourage anyone who has a Flickr account to join it.
I have a big issue with Flickr and free licenses.
Flickr typically show "this photo is public" in a proeminent place, while their sign about copyleft is less clear.
Many people incorrectly conclude that "public" photos on Flickr are "public domain". In fact, what Flickr means by "public" is that these photos are publicly viewable by any Internet user, as opposed to restricted to friends or contacts of the user who posted them.
Consequences:
- Many people assume they can download anything from Flickr and use
them without any kind of restriction as long as there's "this photo is public". 2) Flickr users are not really aware of free licenses.
Maybe we should talk to Flickr about that issue. Their interface should be redesigned so as to minimize confusion.
Yes, you are right - the design is bad. I think it could be improved just by changing "public" to "publicly viewable". or "This photo can be viewed by anyone".
I guess that Commons regulars know this difference. :)
We can use this group as a visible presence on Flickr try to correct such mistakes as aggressively as possible, and possibly push for such interface changes. But I guess Flickr will still leave the default as "all rights reserved" -- most people are happy not to think about copyright of course.
Well, as an unrelated aside, I find it very interesting that Creative Commons ( http://creativecommons.org/ ) loves to push Flickr, counts Jimbo on its board of directors, and yet has never even mentioned Wikimedia Commons in even remotely the same way (see http://creativecommons.org/image ). Or, for that matter, Wikinews.
(No, I'm not bitter that Flickr is such a media darling...!)
cheers, Brianna