Shouldn't this have been the FIRST thing the masterminds at Flickr tested? Who's running the show over there?

not very smart people. i mean any of the actual photographers on here are seriously worried about the larger sizes being viewable on our non-downloadable photos.

Argggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

Stop starting new threads on existing issues.

Considering the magnitude of this blunder, it might warrant multiple threads. The geniuses at Flickr might accidentally overlook a single chain of comments.

Try to keep your replies related to the initial topic, and refrain from instructing other members on what they should or shouldn't be posting.

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Blunder? What blunder? It's part of the business model. It will bring more viewers* to flickr, who will then click on all the wonderful ads, bringing more revenue to flickr.

* even if they ARE thieves

It seems like many of you are letting emotion rule over common sense. The point of this group is to give feedback, and, the staff have said they are reading it. However, do you really believe your voice stands out, LOUDER, by starting a new thread to complain about something that has already been listed in 50 other threads?! How do you expect staff to keep up with all these new threads, exactly, to be able to see all this feedback?

All you all are doing, is making that harder. Since I went to sleep last night, 6 hours ago, the threads from the front page are now 5 pages back...and the threads are nothing new. You're drowning yourselves....rather than keeping this so that staff can actually take in your feedback.

Good for you though, if you thought repeating what's been said a thousand times, by starting YET another thread, is some sort of accomplishment. It really does highlight the ME, ME, ME elements of all these complaints. You are but a drop in the bucket...there are millions of users on this site...the thousand or so here do not speak for the whole site, yet, many are asserting their opinions as facts. Good luck with that.

Viewing = download.

What gets me is the total lack of any functionality or QA testing. How could something this big get missed? Why would they roll out a completely new treatment with such a massive flaw?

"Hey guys, before we pull the trigger, maybe we should make sure the privacy stuff still works, okay?" It's making my head spin thinking about what kind of operation they're running.

Carie, it's very possible that people don't have time to sit and examine all the threads to see if their topic has already been covered. It's possible that people are reacting and posting with what little time they have. A bigger waste of everyone's time is people replying to threads telling others what they should and shouldn't be doing.

The Flickr people could very quickly solve this problem for the short-term: DISABLE THE FUTURE PREVIEW OPTION UNTIL THE BUG IS FIXED.
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i'm gonna guess that seeing 50 threads addressing the same issue, just might, make them aware of how annoyed people are, rather than less so. And honestly, as to all the new threads, I started one which i deleted because people were so *upset* about it, because there are SO many various, lengthy threads that a person sharing their opinion, as flickr instructed, isn't going to read through the previous dozens to see if anyone may have addressed something in one of them somewhere.

" A bigger waste of everyone's time is people replying to threads telling others what they should and shouldn't be doing."

Exactly. i have two mother's already. i don't need another one.

"Am I missing something here or does the new Flickr treatment allow people to right-click and save images?"

Just like how the old style, and every website that exists allows you to do? And a fancy JavaScript to "Disable" right clicking doesn't work given it's insanely easy to get around (like a sign on your bike that says don't steal me instead of locking it up) and the Flickr API gives us access to the Large sizes anyway.

Jayel Aheram says:
Viewing = download.

Technically you're right, but in practice you're wrong. Many of the people that surf, download (and alter for purposes of harassment, bullying and assorted perverted actions) and then re-post, aren't the type of people that think beyond "right-click and save."

Removing the ability to right-click and save certainly filters out the offenders of convenience.
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I'm with Chealion on this; disabling the right-click is a poor kind of protection, as Flickr points out on the account settings page where that option is set.

But, as a point of information, the disabling of right-click downloading seems to be working here (on a pretty vanilla installation of Firefox).

Edit: It's not working on the light-table view, but that's an acknowledged bug that's being worked on.

Since the threads are proliferating, here's one I posted on one of the original threads:

Ok, after having objected earlier to my L size images now being instantly available on a right click, I have another (and I suspect genuinely new) point to add to counter those who say it was always available: SEARCH ENGINES so far contain many of my images in SMALL SIZE. Now, every image search engine (such as Google Images) will presumably have a direct link to be able to automatically copy my large images and include them on their search results. If this does happen as a result of the new format, nobody searching on Google Images will actually bother to visit Flickr - they will download the images straight from Google. Previously this was only possible for small images. Now it's an open invitation to stealing. I actually want people to see the small sizes on search engines so that they do go and find the image on Flickr, and ASK me if they want a large version. Is this too much for me to ask?

I have always been able to see, rightclick and save all images up to large (not original, though). It's not a blunder - it's by design, I believe.

Well, it will be very interesting to see what Flickr does about a huge problem to many, many of its users. Clearly, a significant portion of its users are upset by the downloadable issue....

Even those who are not bothered by this please have respect for those who are - we are all entitled to voice our opinion and, if we don't agree with each other, that doesn't mean we are wrong or bad or deserve to be called nasty names. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I feel very strongly Flickr should pay some serious attention to those of us who wish to prohibit the easy download via the new page (and I understand the nature of the deterrent but it is, indeed, some sort of deterrent whereas the new page screams out loud for people to come, view the large and simply right click and download away); however, I would never dare to suggest that those who disagree with me are wrong - I am not wrong either - it's called opinion and a matter of preference. No need for nastiness. Name calling is for very young children and I'm amazed at some of the name calling on some of these threads. If we properly voice our objection to Flickr we will get more attention than by sniping and acting in an immature manner.

do you prefer it to be a hidden feature, like in the past ??

Has there been any communication from Flickr staff regarding this issue, in the past 7 hours or so, or will the posts and threads just go on and on ...??

If all the picures can be saved , copied and used and abused through the shortsigthed re-design..if my photos can be saved by anyone against my well through clicking on them in the lightbox I will have to close my account.

Flickr!!! Protect copyrigft and photographers!! NOW!!!

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/my-kp-photos/] "Has there been any communication from Flickr staff"

Given that the complaints are spread over a number of threads, you will have to look for the responses. flickr staff administrate the group, so look for admin's comments.

I prefer the way it is. It makes sharing easier. It should be on by default. I believe those complaining the loudest have a commercial interest in "protecting" their images. flickr would be wise not to cater to these interests and to stay committed to the original intent of flickr as a sharing community.

@Gary Jones: It's actually more difficult to get around the right click protection in the all sizes page that Boldstar is complaining about than the current version of Flickr. (They place a transparent div/element instead of a transparent gif/image over the photo). It doesn't appear like they've added the right click protection to the lightbox yet however.

I've just logged off and tried to download one of my photo's...it lets me do it, but the picture is named "spaceball" and it's just grey. Am I missing something? I can't download the actual image...

@Janet Stansfield: That's the right click protection at work.

Yes, most sites allow you to right-click and save. But yesterday Flickr allowed you to disable that functionality. When someone tried to right-click and save an image, it'd be a blank "spaceball." Today, within the new treatment, right-clicking enables a user to save despite the photo owner's settings.

"It's actually more difficult to get around the right click protection in the all sizes page that Boldstar is complaining about than the current version of Flickr?" How so? Right-clicking and saving is not difficult. At least in the current version a theif has to figure out how to get around the spaceball.

JavaScript, API, transparent div elements... this is exactly the type of techie lingo that the average Joe doesn't understand. I have to stand firm believing that disabling the right-click and reinstating the spaceball strategy will discourage a large majority of non-wizards that are in the business of collecting photos.

I think it's great if people want to make all their images public and share them on the web. My only point was that today's Flickr upgrade took away the only (albeit thin) line of defence there was for people wish to have a nominal amount of control.
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I have read the verb "to share" so many times today ...

The problem is to know what flickr' creators originaly wanted. As far as i'm concerned, i do not know exactly...

For now, can we really say there that sharing is letting people you don't know using your pictures ? ... Do you want images of your kids or the ones of friends on crappy sites ? Me not. (And i'm not sure that the new page let people do that ...).

An example in law ... When someone reveal a patent, the right legal term is "to share it" ... Can we honestly say that anybody is able to use the terms of the patent just beacuse it has been shared ? Sure, we can't ...

On the other hand, the new ability to see pictures in a larger size do not means that people can download them. Sure, some of them can already make a crap screen copy, or use scripts

For sure there will be even more and more process to do those downloads unfairly. That was already a fact with some scripts.

So, i undestand the complaints of many people there, as much as the need for going better and better in service ability. The new interface is great and the pictures are beautiful.

BUT, what is disturbing is to read things in defense of the new page that are not true, things as "putting things on the internet is just like already losing them" or "you do not want it to be used by any one ? Don't put them there ..." That's not fair.

Internet is a space for liberty, for sure ... but this liberty can't be different than the one we know in the real life. Just accept the fact that what is going on now through this internet that you describe, should be, one day, facts in the real life. And that's not what i'd life for my kids ... There in france, the same debate have been heard ... We have now something called Hadopi. That is a regulation authority built against piracy and illegal downloads. The fact is that there are many things we can't hear no more through youtube for example, just beacuse a minority decided a day that all they can find or the net is free.

What i'd like you to understand is that, one can love the new flickr page ... that's not a reason to write those things that just let pople think that they can grab what they want ... A fact there is that the new options do not let download what one wants. Just say it as it is. It would be more simple for everyone.

I have my "Who can download your stuff" setting set to "Only you." also but never the less they are available to download with right click by anyone,,, not nice

it would have been great with the new features if the save image would have get the usual empty gif and not the actual image...

claudiaveja,

"they are available to download with right click by anyone"

The right-click protection (which is very weak anyway) is working on the all sizes page. (Edit: Apparently not yet for all browsers.) It isn't working on the lightbox view, but this is an acknowledged bug.

Claudiaveja : No, you're able to right-click .... but as far as the privacy seetings is right, the other memebers can't ... Then the page says that "The owner has disabled downloading of their photos" ...

On the other hand, one can have a screen capture of a 640 px width shot ...

Flickr = image TAKING site. No longer a sharing site.

Gary Jones said:
The right-click protection (which is very weak anyway) is working on the all sizes page.

Wrong. Right-click protection is NOT working on the "All sizes" pages or within the lightboxes. I've tried it on pictures of contacts and friends, all of whom have their "Who can download your stuff" set to "Only you."

I take the "sharing" in a "photo sharing site" to mean that people can VIEW each other's photos, not that they can TAKE them without your permission.

I'm fully aware that the security features have always been mere deterrents at best, but 90% of the time, that thin line of defense at least saves you from finding your photos (uncredited) on random people's sites, blogs, Facebook pages, etc. I at least want to be ASKED, and have SOME control, however small, over where my images end up. This isn't Facebook, it's a site for photographers, to share techniques, points of view, etc. This is why I joined... to learn. In the process, I've made many wonderful friends and have had interesting exchanges with people around the world. However, many of those friends have left, and I'd hate to pack up and go myself, but more and more I find I think twice about uploading images (Will this photo of my neighbor end up on someone's blog? I may want to sell this one... should I risk uploading it? Will this photo of my niece end up on some perv's desktop?). Being able to deter people from downloading gave me some control, but now with NO deterrents in slide show view, I may leave after all.

Tech-savvy people will always find a way to steal images if they want to, but I feel photo sites like Flickr should do more to EDUCATE people about respect for people's work (whether "art" or a snapshot), and discourage the current mentality of "if it's on the internet, it's free", which is the real underlying problem.

You don't even have to right click. All you have to do is drag the photo in the magnifying mode to the desktop.

I put my photostream on contacts/friends only but apparently that isn't working either.

You don't even have to right click. All you have to do is drag the photo in the magnifying mode to the desktop.

It's a bug. They're going to fix it.

In the mean time 1000 & 1000 of photos are being taken by right click.

Boldstar,

"Right-click protection is NOT working on the "All sizes" pages or within the lightboxes."

It's working for me on the all sizes page. I've just tried again on one of your images. The right-click doesn't produce "Save image As". If I try on the all sizes page of someone who allows downloads, right-clicking does produce "Save image As". All this is as expected. This is an accurate report of the current behaviour of the site on my browser (Firefox 3.6). I cannot speculate on why you're apparently seeing different behaviour.

As I said earlier, there is a problem with the behaviour of the lightbox page. Flickr have acknowledged this and I'm sure it will get fixed.

We saw yesterday that people using IE8 were able to right-click on the all sizes page. So that's a bug.

Thanks, Brenda.

I've had 7 emails from people not on flickr telling me they read on other groups and sites about whats going on with the right click on flickr. Because they know i'm on it. So now the man on the street that doen't know much about I.T can come along and right click on photos.

It's also working for me with Chrome

If you are using Chrome when you right click you can save the all sizes page as a webpage and the image is saved with the other images/html etc on the page... however you can already do this for the main photo page with the current layout. The only difference is the new 640px image instead of 500 pixels with the old version.

The bug must be browser-related then. I'm using IE 8 and right-click works for all images, even ones that are labelled "The owner has disabled downloading of their photos."

I've said it a few times already... How could a flaw like this have slipped past the Flickr tech team, especially given that IE is by far the most common browser.

IE8 was not supported in the private beta, so no one who was testing would have seen the issue. That's why there's a public beta now... to find those sorts of things.

Why does the thread title have "privacy" in it? This is not a privacy issue at all.

Arty Smokes said:
Why does the thread title have "privacy" in it? This is not a privacy issue at all.

Because the account setting that's supposed to control this feature is under the "Privacy & Permissions" tab. I can re-name it "Huge permissions blunder" if you like.
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