Tuesday
04Nov2008
Flickr censors my account
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 3:53AM
I had noticed that some of my recent pix from Ireland, that included the Palestine and the Republican murals were not viewable to the public unless they were signed in. I emailed the Flickr Gods. They were kind enough to respond back quickly and un-flag some of the pix, putting them on "safe" mode, but without giving me an explanation why they were flagged in the first place.
The only reason I can think of is an editorial anti-Palestinian bias.
Moreover, I was told my account has been marked as
My reply was:
Their reply was:
I replied:
I still haven't received a reply from them about why my Ireland photos were censored in the first the place, or about changing the above.
I have to say I'm disgusted and I'm in need of your solidarity to get my flickr account back its "safe" mode, so that search engines can find it. First Yahoo! was too happy to give passwords of dissidents' email accounts to their govts, and now they wanna censor the activists' images. Please send the following short message to this email address (case982056@support.flickr.com):
I'd appreciate all the help, and I also need recommendations for other websites and social networks that I can upload my pix to... coz I WILL NOT TAKE DOWN THE STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS PIX... I'd rather migrate to another service...
UPDATE: Oh great... They first disabled his YouTube channel, and now Facebook deleted Wael's account..
The only reason I can think of is an editorial anti-Palestinian bias.
Moreover, I was told my account has been marked as
"NIPSA" (Not in Public Search Area) since there is alot of content in your photostream that you did not create.
www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne
# Don’t upload anything that isn't yours. This includes other people's photographs and/or stuff that
you've collected from around the Internet. Accounts that consist primarily of such collections may be terminated. Flickr reserves the right to deactivate your account
without warning at any time.
My reply was:
These would be largely photos by Nasser Nouri and Amr Abdallah. I do have their permission to upload them. ...
My flickr account is the go-to place if you want any pix about Egyptian dissent. I've been encouraging people left and right to get on flickr..
/arabawy/2008/05/08/the-revolution-will-be-flickrized/
/arabawy/2008/04/10/trip_to_mahalla/
/arabawy/2008/02/26/photos_flickr/
/arabawy/2008/05/12/flickrize-the-resistance/
There are others, and seriously that would take me hours to count them, who got on flickr because of me. It's to the extent that people think Flickr is paying me a commission coz of my aggressive campaigning on your behalf.
I think the least thing Flickr can do is to make my life much easier and do not deprive me of internet traffic.
Their reply was:
Flickr accounts are for uploading content that you yourself have created, not for uploading content created by others regardless if you have permission from the owner of the content.
All users are expected to follow the Flickr Community Guidelines and are treated equally.
If you delete all content from your photostream that you did not create, then you can ask for a re-review of your account status.
I replied:
I think this is really unfair.. and depriving the Egyptian activist community of their main source of visual dissent. You probably have done the Egyptian regime one hell of a huge favor.
May I kindly inquire also why my Ireland pix were marked as "unsafe" to start with?
I still haven't received a reply from them about why my Ireland photos were censored in the first the place, or about changing the above.
I have to say I'm disgusted and I'm in need of your solidarity to get my flickr account back its "safe" mode, so that search engines can find it. First Yahoo! was too happy to give passwords of dissidents' email accounts to their govts, and now they wanna censor the activists' images. Please send the following short message to this email address (case982056@support.flickr.com):
Dear Sir,
I voice my opposition to your decision to censor Hossam el-Hamalawy's account.
I'd appreciate all the help, and I also need recommendations for other websites and social networks that I can upload my pix to... coz I WILL NOT TAKE DOWN THE STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS PIX... I'd rather migrate to another service...
UPDATE: Oh great... They first disabled his YouTube channel, and now Facebook deleted Wael's account..
Reader Comments (12)
Hi Hossam,
few comments:
I don't understand the NIPSA: but your account is accessible through google (even google.com.eg).
Yes Flickr gods are known for being bastard: applying conservative (whatever it is) and puritan approach (make porn but don't show it to public eyes!). Moreover flickr belongs to the yahoo group which is not famous for supporting activist groups: remember in China they were just giving files of data, filter contents, etc. to the state security.
the good thing is that there's a trick to switch your picture into a safe mode. See that page from a previously censured flickr': http://www.flickr.com/photos/__wweeggee__/
of course if you cannot see it: the trick is void.
we will support you against global censorship!
a lutta continua!
tkr
Actually, if you're looking for a conspiracy, it might be an anti-(R)IRA bias. Cause I remember when I looked at the blocked ones this morning, I specifically checked to see if all the images featuring Palestinian flags were "unsafe" and they weren't, which is why I figured it might be a random glitch.
But the RIRA graffiti was blocked, no?
Just saying.
[...] impressive flickr account of blogger and friend Hossam el-Hamalawy is facing censorship by flickr themselves! First they disabled pro-palestine photos he had taken in Ireland, then they [...]
[...] impressive flickr account of blogger and friend Hossam el-Hamalawy is facing censorship by flickr themselves! First they disabled pro-palestine photos he had taken in Ireland, then they [...]
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment's server IP (74.208.16.15) doesn't match the comment's URL host IP (74.208.26.85) and so is spam.
how about picassa?
[...] Hossam El Hamalawy and Noura Younis wrote about Flickr censoring Hossam's Flickr account. Posted by Lasto Adri Print Version Share This [...]
[...] also facing restrictions, this time not from the government but from flickr themselves. He’s asking for people’s help in persuading the company to change their mind, so please take a minute to [...]
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment's server IP (76.74.254.24) doesn't match the comment's URL host IP (72.233.2.59) and so is spam.
[...] blogger and activist Hossam El Hamalawy writes: “I had noticed that some of my recent pix from Ireland, that included the Palestine and the [...]
Flickr censors Arabawy photos for no good reason...
Dear Arabawy was one of the people who used to promote Flickr in the Egyptian blogsphere. His account...
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment's server IP (74.0.128.179) doesn't match the comment's URL host IP (66.150.96.119) and so is spam.
I sent out an email to them. They're surely going to get egg on their face considering all of the crap they got in with giving out Chinese bloggers' email addresses.
[...] and elsewhere. (Some nice pics of my own ’six counties’ in there, by the way). It turns out that Flickr are giving him some stick, and there is implicitly the threat that his account may be [...]
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment's server IP (212.227.114.162) doesn't match the comment's URL host IP (87.106.117.219) and so is spam.
I don't really see the issue here. The very first paragraph of the Flickr guidelines says
If an account is in breach of that then they have every right to NIPSA or even suspend it without being accused of censorship.