[artursapek]

I wish they had followed through strongly on this. There's a hard-to-miss link that lets you opt-out of having your photos censored, and if you're visiting a blacked-out photo flickr gives the anti-PIPA spiel and presents a button to "show it anyway." If they were trying to demonstrate what SOPA/PIPA would make the internet like, shouldn't they just bite the bullet and make these photo black-outs permanent for a day? The idea is great but its implementation is pretty weak, it won't actually get people worked up.

[gfodor]

The goal isn't really to get people "worked up", it's to raise awareness. You've completely missed the point, and Flickr's method is brilliant because it brings intuition to the impact of what SOPA may actually do.

[artursapek]

But if the demonstration is just for a day, why does it still have to be so wishy-washy? It's imaginary. People would take it more seriously if it was really out of their control.

[goatforce5]

Seems to be having exactly the desired effect:

"Hey @flickr, if you want to let members blackout their own photos as a protest, great. Letting anyone blackout anyone else's photo? Stupid."

https://twitter.com/#!/fraying/statuses/159702033971150848

fraying == Derek Powazek == someone with close connections to Flickr who, besides that, is a really super smart guy who i'd assume would have got what they were trying to do.

[smackfu]

You better not darken my photos if I'm paying for the service.

[deanproxy]

Just think how you'll feel if the SOPA or PIPA bills pass and there is no "Show my website anyway" button... 'Cause you can say that all you want, but if one of these bills pass and if the idiots deem it necessary, your content will get "darkened" regardless of how much money you paid to host it somewhere (maybe not the same way flickr is doing it, but still... to the same point).

I think everyones photos shouldn't be exempt, including the whitehouse photos! This is just a small taste of what is possible.

[smackfu]

It certainly highlights one downside of using a paid-for shared service over your own self-hosted version. Flickr could be blocked due to another user, whereas my own hosting can only be blocked due to me

[brlewis]

If an accuser makes a mistake and you're unreachable for 5 days, your own self-hosted version could be blocked.

[belthesar]

Pro members are not exempt from the blackout.