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Flickr Pulls CC-Licensed Images From Its Wall Art Program Following Outcry

145197704_899be2031e[1]Apologizing to their users, yesterday Flickr killed the controversial (but entirely legal) program which let you buy wall art printed with any appropriately licensed creative commons image from the service.

Flickr had taken a lot of flack for that program ever since it launched last month, with both the company’s departed founder and many users displeased with Flickr’s decision to sell prints of photos which had been uploaded to hosting service under a CC commercial use license.

Flickr VP Bernando Hernandez said in a blog post yesterday that:

We hear and understand your concerns, and we always want to ensure that we’re acting within the spirit with which the community has contributed. Given the varied reactions, as a first step, we’ve decided to remove the pool of Creative Commons-licensed images from Flickr Wall Art, effective immediately.

The Curated Collections program will continue without the CC-licensed images, instead selling only prints from photographers who had agreed to license their work. Anyone who has purchased a print with a Creative Commons-licensed image will be getting a refund (it looks like that includes the orders which have already shipped).

And thus ends another lesson in the difference between what is legal and what is socially acceptable.

images by Zanastardust

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