On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 12:06, Sarah Stierch sarah.stierch@gmail.com wrote:
While I support the use of technology, I also fear that people put so much trust into this technology they aren't aware of the lame content being uploaded. They love to reiterate that if the "bot approves it" it's okay and fine to be on Commons, but so much content that is pornographic in nature is often uploaded, bot approved, then the Flickr account is deleted. This is a rather broken approval process or system, IMHO.
It's a major problem with Flickr. I've often emailed people there who have CC images that I'd like to use in articles. They say "sure, I've released it, go ahead." I say, "can I just check that you took the photograph yourself?" Answer, "sure, it's fine for you to use it." Me: "Can you confirm that you actually took the photograph yourself?" No answer.
That's ignoring whether the subject of the photograph has given consent, which is another issue on top of who the author is.
Practically, what can we do about this? I feel we've become a magnet for pornography in a way that's bad for everyone -- project, editors, Foundation, the individual women depicted, women in general. Realistically, what can we do that doesn't involve simply having the occasional image deleted?
Sarah