Flickr Hacks / Discuss

rampartdog2 [deleted] says:

I've always wondered if there is a way to fix this - thanks I sure will give it a try next time I run across it.
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

Brenda Anderson    says:

You do realise that people have the spaceball over their photos because they don't WANT you to access their larger sizes. I don't think they would call it a 'problem' requiring a 'fix'.
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

Eli the Bearded    says:

This is a general problem not specific to flickr: saving an image that the web developer has decided to make hard to save.

For defeating this type of protection, I use the Firefox extension 'Nuke Anything'. I nuke the overlay GIF (right click and use the "remove" menu item) and then can save the underlying JPEG.
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

FlyButtafly    says:

Unless you have specific permission, you shouldn't be downloading people's photos anyway. On flickr, if they've restricted downloading, that means the photo is ©all rights reserved - because a cc license overrides the download setting and allows the "all sizes" to be displayed (and hence no spaceball.gif).

I really don't think it's appropriate for people to post information on how to circumvent the methods flickr (or whatever website) uses to discourage people scraping photos.
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

doctor.boogie    says:

yeah im with Flybuttafly on this one.. if you like the picture and its all rights reserved don't you think the best thing to do would be fav it, instead of nick it
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

Silly Luis    says:

I always thought that this kind of topics were always killed on sight. AFAIK this not the type of hacks* this group is about, is it?


* Neither this is really a "hack", mind.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

GustavoG    says:

I always thought that this kind of topics were always killed on sight.

How to circumvent the spaceball.gif is common knowledge, and what is mentioned here isn't even the simplest method.
This discussion is valuable in that it puts the hack, simple as it may be, in the context of its ethical considerations... As with all hacks, good to know both.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Eli the Bearded    says:

Part of my job these days is figuring out how to stop people from downloading stuff. The flickr method is simplistic, basically a strong hint that you shouldn't do that, but not strong enough that it would stop a search engine. Anyone who posts an image on flickr needs to know that flickr isn't going to try very hard to protect it. Besides that spaceball thing, private images can be viewed if you know the image URL, whatever privacy settings the page with the image might have.

This image of mine is private (and not even family/friends allowed), for example:
farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2165438228_7578e38e33.jpg
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Brenda Anderson    says:

Eli the Bearded wrote

private images can be viewed if you know the image URL, whatever privacy settings the page with the image might have.

Whiskeygonebad    says:

I know that we are not supposed to save the picture, but is there if a way to then I just helped the company out because THEY can fix the problem because there is a HACK around it. Many may not want to join or join/quit a group just to be able to R-C-S a photo. if there is another, shorter way, great.
- Badwsky
Originally posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )
Whiskeygonebad edited this topic 7 months ago.

Brenda Anderson    says:

Flickr knows there are workarounds, that's why they specifically say that the spaceball method is there to discourage people from downloading... not prevent it.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

sebastian.napierkowski says:

You can also evade that spaceball.gif by clicking f5 (page reload) and then clicking the right mouse button ("properties" or "save picture as") before the spaceball.gif is loaded.
It needs a bit practise but for me it's faster than searching in the source code...
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

FlyButtafly    says:

It needs a bit practise but for me it's faster than searching in the source code...

How about just respecting their wishes and not downloading it?
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

mattie_shoes    says:

People will post pictures to the "fix my pic" groups with all this crap enabled. They don't even know they've got them protected because they only look at their pictures while logged in.

I'm just throwing fuel on the fire by the way. :-)
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Xenophod    says:

Whenever you look at something in a web browser, it's been downloaded to your computer. All you need to do is check the browser cache. (IE & FF make it easy without needing hacks)

If someone doesn't want you to "download" their stuff, they shouldn't put it on the internet. They cannot control what I do with any of the information on My computer, even if it's "protected", once it's on my machine, I can do what I please with that information. It may not be legal for me to upload it someplace and say it's my own work, but there are hundreds of legal uses for videos, images and text that gets saved to my browser cache on my hard drive.

(more fuel for the fire....)
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Brenda Anderson    says:

xenophod wrote

If someone doesn't want you to "download" their stuff, they shouldn't put it on the internet.

J.R. Acosta    says:

It's really easy to download the photo to anyone who knows anything about HTML.

I was some time exploring ways to resolve this paradox (As allow access to an image only within a particular environment), and there are some solutions more restrictive than those used flickr, but there is always some way to get the image, you just have to think that have it in front.

Spanish ----------------------
Es realmente fácil descargar la foto para cualquier persona que sepa algo de HTML.

Estuve algun tiempo estudiando formas de resolver esta paradoja (Como permitir acceso a una imagen sólo dentro de un entorno concreto) y existen algunas soluciones más restrictivas que las que usa flickr, pero siempre existe alguna forma de obtener la imagen, sólo hay que pensar que la tienes en frente.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

akosikenet    says:

this is the reason why some people use watermarks. i used to set my flickr pictures to be like this, to be downloaded as spaceball.gif that is. until i realized there is a workaround like this and now i set it to be downloadable as large as you want, but with my watermark on it. :D
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Xenophod    says:

exactly... watermark your pics if you need security. don't rely on faulty methods from a 3rd party.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

pixability    says:

If one has to find a workaround to download something that is clearly marked proprietory (all rights reserved) the downloader knows full well they are in breech of the original posters wishes. The downloader knows full well they are violating copyright law. The downloader in taking the extra steps is guilty of intentional theft....

If I leave my camera in plane sight on the hood of my car and someone steals it it is still theft, although everyone can agree that I was an idiot to leave it there. The person taking it may not have been out to steal but as an opportunist with flexible ethics he just capitalized on its ready availability.
Now imagine I've put the camera in my locked trunk, and someone with a lock pick comes along and breaks in and takes my gear. The result is the same, my cameras gone, but in the second scenario the thief is also guilty of premeditated theft. Finding "fixes" to disable the obvious attempts to restrict access is similar to picking the lock, sure you can do it, but should you?
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

pixability    says:

In speaking to your claim that there are hundreds of legal uses for videos, images, etc that reside on your hard drive. I will argue that other than cashed images used in compliance with the terms of service of flickr (ie viewing my stream through your browser), there is no other legal use of my copyrighted work by you for any purpose, even if you've lifted it onto your machine.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Xenophod    says:

Setting your image as my desktop wall paper, putting a copy in my images folder that my Tivo searches in order to display a slide show in my TV...

By the way, did you know I can already set your newst images as part of my screen saver???

If you have downloaded the "Google Photos Screensaver" I can link it to your photo streams RSS feed and get your images?

api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=304996...
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

pixability    says:

You can do those things undoubtedly. I can also have a gallery showing and you Can come in and take a photo of my work and then project it on your wall. It does not make such reuse legal by any means. Using my image as your wallpaper is a violation of the copyright protections afforded. Now in truth, do I care if you do such things, not really, but please dont confuse it as "legal" just because technology allows for it. What you've described is no more legal than burning a copy of a DVD to play back on your tv at a later date or ripping an MP3 from the radio and downloading it to your ipod....
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

wynnyelle says:

Much faster and simpler to just save Complete Web Page then go digging in the file folder it saves.

There are also greasemonkey scripts that remove the spaceball specifically.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

qadri194 says:

can anyone tell me how i see a larger size of that image

www.flickr.com/photos/rasavilasini/2195089729/

greasemonkey script are also not working

me waiting of yours
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

GustavoG    says:

can anyone tell me how i see a larger size of that image

Just ask! :)
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

.eti    says:

I don't want to download anything at all, I just want to see the largest size available. 500 pixels is really too small to see a picture.

The picture quadri is talking about does not have a larger size, but most pictures with 'spaceball' have an original size that is really inaccessible and a large size that is accessible.

On Firefox there is a Greasemonkey script to disable spaceball (Flickr Unblocker) and another one to put links to all available sizes in the right hand column (Flickr Photo Page Enhancer 2), so I can comfortably see pictures without having to squint. I do not think I am actually trespassing doing that.

When stuck with IE, if you still want to see a picture at large size, the easiest method is to go to the previous picture on the photostream, hit Properties, copy the image location and add _b before the .jpg bit.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Muse Photos says:

well people like me have solutions to people liek you...i never upload anything higher than 600X480 resolution...if you download it no matter what you can't really use it without my permission...problem SOLVED.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Whiskeygonebad    says:

If you are worried about people stealing your photo then never post the full resolution photo. You simply having sole posession of the full resolution picture is the ultimate proof of posession and origination.
You cannot fake or tweak a low resolution to mimick the real McCoy.
Placing a watermark only informs people that sombody desired to put a watermark on a digital photo as far as I'm concerned.
And yes, everything you see is placed into browser cache anyway.
- Tony
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Rippie: Contra Censura!    says:

spaceball.gif has a number of easy workarounds. i'm so used to not seeing it, it's only in threads discussing it i recall it exists.

whiskey is right: but i'm going futher.

don't want stuff nicked? don't post. at all. ever.
Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

tuxcomputers says:

FluButtafly is funny, they should search the term 'security by obsurity' and find out how funny they are.
Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

WouterKvG    says:

I agree with everyone who says that you should download a picture that has (c)all rights reserved. However sometimes you want to see a picture larger. To do this I use Adblock Plus and block the spaceball.gif. very easy.

Once again, you should not download if they don't want it. I think viewing is not a problem at all.
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

Saint Seminole    says:

The even easier way to download a photo "protected" by spaceball.gif is to right-click on the lower right-hand corner pixel of the photo. At least that works in Firefox. (I tested it because someone told me it would work, not because I wanted to steal someone's photo).

That being said, it's true that you should post something on the internet if you CAN'T BEAR to see it stolen. Because there's always a way to find it. Everything you view in your browser has already been downloaded, as someone mentioned above.

But again, FlyButtafly has the most pertinent point in my opinion. I don't want to "get along" with the world by hiding all of my stuff at home somewhere where no one can see it. I want to trust people. I want to think that most folks wouldn't think of committing a crime over my paltry little photos. But it happens almost weekly now.

How does this help you see it larger? Don't you still see the "medium" size, even after the gif is gone? Sure you can zoom with a viewer, but you're not getting any extra pixels.
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

owen.iverson    says:

my 2¢ - if you really want your images to be credited to you, either don't post them on teh net or watermark them with a huge PHOTO BY OWEN mark. (of course you should probably use your own name :)

EDIT: sorry i missed your comment...exactly.
Originally posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )
owen.iverson edited this topic 3 months ago.

bencr    says:

Thanks, the spaceball has been doing my head in, as I was using images for uni project.
Problem solved :)
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

yellowplease    says:

View the source and srearch for ".jpg" it should be the third one
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

Vin444    says:

Simple: Take a screenshot and crop it.

Even better still, email the owner and ask them if you can use their image. Almost every Flickr user I have asked they have been happy for me to use their photo as long as I credit them as the photographer.

Also, don't the Flickr rules state that you can use the image as long as you link it back to the owner's Flickr page?
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

beauty immersed says:

"Also, don't the Flickr rules state that you can use the image as long as you link it back to the owner's Flickr page?"

If you use a flickr photo you have to link back to flickr - but that is so folks don't put their photos here and just use flickr's bandwidth to host it. Flickr wants to get some traffic and potential ad revenue when they host a pic

As for other people's pics - when you select "all sizes" and look at the original, at the bottom of that page it will either say something like "copyright, all rights reserved" or it will explain the creative commons rules that owner has put in effect for that photo - which may include attribution, derivative works, denying commercial use, etc
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

Tank707    says:

You state "I know that we are not supposed to save the picture, but is there if a way to then I just helped the company out because THEY can fix the problem because there is a HACK around it" ...you're a fuckin' saint...Just because you can doesn't mean you should. We post our pics because we have something to share, if I wanted you to have my pics, I would send them to you or make them free reign. If you're that hard up to steal someone else's work, you have much bigger issues.
Originally posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )
Tank707 edited this topic 3 months ago.

me-me2001    says:

could just use portable flicka
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

Kath Toman    says:

'Just because you can doesn't mean you should' Exactly.

If somebody walked in through your front door and stole your things, just because someone had told them your door was unlocked, doesn't make it right. If you want to use an image, most people will be quite happy for you to use it if you just ask. I have had many a person ask to use an image, and I have been fine. Now my photos are more accesible = more publicity for me Sometimes I haven't let them be used. Most people are ok and respect that. Now you come along and just violate people's wishes. That doesn't mean you 'helped the company out'. That means you have issues.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

sexbombfan says:

What about personal use, that is, images saved but not for further publication. Is that stealing. I often printscreen if I like a photo anyway.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

aManCub    says:

this is wrong. People steal photos and pose as you, its fucked up! i say fukin stop it.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

sexbombfan says:

I found another way to upsize using printscreen, more work, but worth it. Like I said, it is for my use only, my only guilt is not paying the photographer for their brilliant work, such as Karl Louis. I am willing to make a donation though.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

sexbombfan says:

Also found another problem where, in some cases, one downloads a photo, only to find later it is just a dot. Makes it hard to backtrack if not paying attention at the time. But, I know, that is just my obsession. Just informing others and to perhaps relieve my curiosity as to why.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

yellowplease    says:

Everything has to be sourceed from some where
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

• Juan Pablo Giusepponi    says:

This question really pissed me off..
Some of us are tired of jerks robbing out our photos, and you are trying to give a "solution" to the "problem" of not being able to download a pic??
OMG!
Ppl r sck!!
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

GustavoG    says:

With all due respect, I think we've had enough, and we don't need to degrade further into namecalling.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )