A German expansion of Yahoo Inc's online photo-sharing service Flickr has been less than picture-perfect.
In the latest outcry against Yahoo's practices outside the US, Flickr is fending off censorship complaints because it is preventing users in Germany from viewing many of the images posted on its Web site.
The limitations, imposed earlier this week when Flickr launched a German-language version of its service, have provoked indignant online protests that apparently caught management off guard.
"We're all getting really uncomfortable that the words `flickr' and `censorship' are being jammed together with increasing frequency because that is so far from the direction we're trying to move in," Heather Champ, Flickr's community manager, wrote in a note posted on Thursday evening on the photo service's blog.
Flickr has previously encountered similar criticism when some of its photos were blocked in the United Arab Emirates and China.
The problems in Germany -- reported earlier by citizen journalism Web site NowPublic.com -- revolve around controls enabling Flickr's users to identify photos that should not be viewed by children or other people who might be offended by the images.
The "SafeSearch" function can usually be turned off by users interested in seeing all the photos available on Flickr, but that option is not being offered in Germany.
"In other words, German users can't access photos on Flickr that are not flagged `safe,'" wrote one user in an online forum. "Only flowers and landscapes for the Germans."
Yahoo said Flickr's restrictions adhere to German laws requiring Web sites to verify that visitors are old enough to see potentially sensitive content. In her posting, Champ indicated Flickr decided to proceed cautiously instead of exposing Yahoo's employees in Germany to possible jail time for breaking the age-restriction laws.
"We should have handled this differently, and have been exploring many possible approaches which would allow us to do what makes sense while still operating inside the law," Yahoo said in a statement released on Friday.
Yahoo, which bought Flickr in 2005, has periodically faced accusations of censorship as it expanded into countries run by governments that stifle free speech. Yahoo has been criticized for blocking access to some of its content and turning over e-mail information that helped China's government convict dissidents. Two of the dissidents are suing Yahoo for its role in their convictions.
The California-based company has consistently said it is just complying with the law wherever it operates, even if management does not necessarily agree with the law.
That attitude inspired a Yahoo shareholder to propose changes that that would have management fight more aggressively against all forms of Internet censorship. The proposal was rejected by wide margin at Yahoo's annual meeting earlier this week.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS