Flickr's censorship system has gone over the top

It started out with innocent users (like me). Now it's extended to entire countries. Flickr's filtering system has now prevented users from Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong or Korea from viewing any photos considered "unsafe." Compounding this problem is the fact that the filter system has so many glitches in it, that even photos of dogs and kittens can be considered "restricted content."

From the Flickr FAQ:

SafeSearch is a feature that allows you to control what turns up in your searches on Flickr, and it's on for everyone by default. Note: If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off.

From Flickr staff:

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We have absolutely no intention of censoring the content on the community's behalf. It is always been our intention that Flickr members participate to whatever extent they want and are as free as possible create their own experience. Currently, switching the SafeSearch function off is not available for German members. It is a really complex situation -- we have been in deliberation on this for a while, and we had to make the decision whether or not to leave Germany and the German language out of the international launch. The decision came down to the wire, but we decided to include Germany. We're still hoping that that was the right decision. It definitely was not a decision that was made lightly and there is no intention to annoy, frustrate or inconvenience Flickr members in Germany. Rest assured, we do hear you loud and clearly (painfully loud, even) and are doing our best. We hope to have more to say soon.

Oh Germany. Here we tried so hard to get past the whole "Hitler" thing and then we were so proud of you for tearing down your big ol' wall, but now you come up with this and we have to be worried all over again. You can't spit in public in Singapore, so they're obviously more easily offended, and we won't bug Korea because they might nuke us, but come on, Germany. Really.

Read more in the Flickr help/discussion forums and the against censorship group. Thousands of Flickr users are creating images in protest. This is my favorite thus far.

Photo of Zumi's reaction by bbdoyle via F*!@r

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Flickr's censorship system has gone over the top