Check out these webspace images:

flickr_censored_image_negative


Image by jazamarripae
my two cents on this “issue”:
a commercial image sharing site puts up free server space + bandwith, offering annual subscriptions for users who want more (space + bandwith), a service which requires compliance with the site’s “Community Guidelines”, in which account holders (i.e. “community members”) (of either the free and “PRO” accounts) are exhorted to exercise responsibility for the content that they upload onto the site’s servers
sounds reasonable to me: exercising self responsibility, including being responsible for one’s actions (limited, in effect, to uploaded images), in this case, within the “flickr community”
so anybody who has read the “Community Guidelines” and who doesn’t agree would be expected not to sign up, create an account, “join the community”…
I have to admit I’m perplexed by what’s going on currently in this “community” regarding flickr’s censorship of the content on its servers
how can anybody be rightly outraged when the overseers of the site exercise their responsibility regarding the identification/categorization of the site’s contents, especially when it’s clear from the get-go that this is part of their task, and part of the flickr deal?
has anybody who is currently expressing their outrage read the site’s method of identification/categorization of the images on their webspace (i.e. Flickr: Help: Content filters?
is anybody offering a possible solution, an alternative modus operandi for the site to apply a general method to comply with the very different laws or norms throughout the world regarding what any given present-day society as represented by the laws or even customs or beliefs of their respective states or territories of influence/dominance?
apparently, expecting individuals to exercise responsibility for their actions, i.e. what they choose to place on a website to which a world of people with (the privilege of) internet access can view, is too ideal a situation
as tends to happen in any given reality (if we really wish to be honest with ourselves and others), there are a lot of “grey” areas, just like the inverted (negative) flickr censored image above
if we’re really against censorship, then it would, without a doubt, be more productive to work on making adjustments to the rules which flickr attempts to abide by in order to operate comfortably on a global scale, i.e. internationally
this is “hard”: locally, it involves real sociopolitical involvement in your immediate neighborhood/city/state, as simple, fortunately, for some, as voting every couple of years for people who will promote or work to protect your interests, your values; globally, it would mean supporting people who might be in truly life/death situations, perhaps in other neighborhoods/cities/states, involving censorship of the messages in their images or words…)
or you can continue to lash out against a website’s decision to apply rules it clearly stated it would apply and which are not unreasonable to work with (is it really that difficult to adjust the Default filters for your photos for photos you know you’re going to share, or the Search filters for the types of images you wish to view, normally, that is, since you’ve apparently agreed to the “house rules” regarding the content you wish to share with others and which others wish to share with you, since you are, apparently, a flickr account holder…)?
this (complaining, via your computer) is “easy”
too “easy”
so you think the people working at flickr have made a mistake in their judgment of the identification/categorization of the content you upload and potentially share with regard to how the rest of the “community” might possibly feel about viewing your images? it’s certainly possible! for that you can request a review of your account
is this really just a question of people being irritated at having to click a couple more times in order to see content they’re interested in, or that other people have to do so in order to see your images?
oh my! say it ain’t so!
thanks for your time

Block 37 on Block 37 bench


Image by yooperann
Get it? (For you out-of-towners, it’s the red block). There are a bunch of really cool mosaic benches being installed in Block 37. It turns out there was a design competition for them. I look forward to finding them all.

Citizen as Cursor, City as Display


Image by mayonissen
citizen as cursor
city as display
livingspace as webspace
workspace as chatroom
public transport as browsing
shops as searchengines

internet as cable

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Brussels, September 2007