Sometimes a company goes out of business and its servers go dark. Other times an organization changes its content management system and deletes all the older content.
And sometimes a company changes its business practices. That was the case recently with Web 2.0 firms Flickr and Tumblr.
Under new owner SmugMug, Flickr decided to scrap a plan that offered a terabyte of free online storage for photos. (Former owner Yahoo implemented that plan.) Flickr now limits free accounts to 1,000 photos. It is promoting unlimited storage, ad-free, for $50 a year.
I’m a paid Flickr user for my family photos. But I also had a free account for photo collections for Tech-media-tainment. I’ve deleted photos from that account to stay under the 1,000-picture limit. I don’t want to pay for two accounts and Flickr wouldn’t let me add the free account to my paid account.
A lot of photos from free accounts, including many shared in the Creative Commons, will be lost when Flickr implements its new rules on Jan. 8.
Multimedia blog Tumblr announced Dec. 3 that it will soon ban the posting of “adult content.” Its definition includes media that depicts “real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content — including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations—that depicts sex acts.” The ban takes effect on Dec. 17.
Tumblr, now owned by Verizon, said it will still permit “exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.”
Also, it promised to allow “nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations,” and written erotica.
Having been on the receiving end of Tumblr’s heavy-handed enforcement of copyright claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, I don’t trust them. They refused to hear my fair use claims or give me back the content they deleted from my blogs.
Users are reporting posts incorrectly marked as adult content by Tumblr’s filters. Posts including Pokemon, dinosaur art, and TV show screengrabs have been flagged under the new policy, Business Insider said.
Reason magazine notes that the actions of Tumblr and social media sites to ban adult content comes as governments worldwide are applying pressure on internet services to shut down porn online.
The Free Speech Coalition denounced Tumblr’s actions against adult content. It said the ban will hurt groups that dispense sexual health information, LGBTQ communities, sex workers and others.
“The loss of these platforms isn’t just about business, it’s about the loss of vital communities and education — and organizing,” the FSC said.
No comments:
Post a Comment