T&C's of Flickr groups and photography competitions

rob-nikon

rob-nikon

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Rob
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i know many on here are against giving images away for free but probably aren't aware that by posting to some Flickr groups you are effectively giving them the right to use the image any way they like. I knew many photography competitions did this but not Flickr groups as I never bothered reading their t&cs when I have all rights reserved on all images I post on Flickr. This has got me thinking is there any protection you can use to stop use of images? (Other than not posting them). Another thing is what if your is restricted in use (i.e. Taken at a royal park where commercial use is banned unless you pay)?
 
There are several such groups. Flickr is partnered with several companies/organisations that run this type of group and their groups appear in the Featured/From Our Sponsors promoted window. There are other groups associated with magazines and websites where submitting an image to the group is the equivalent to submitting an image for publication.

If you use Flickr you need to be clever about it, be careful and selective about the groups you join. Read group rules. I see a lot of Flickr users who join 100+ groups to routinely dump their images in without any thought. That sort of photo-dumping doesn't gain you anything worthwhile on Flickr anyway.
 
StewartR said:
I think it would help if you provided some links to these objectionable terms. Flickr's standard terms don't give them the right to use images "any way they like". Where specifically have you seen terms that do give these rights?

https://policies.yahoo.com/ie/en/yahoo/terms/utos/index.htm
Click to expand...

To be fair to the 'any way they like' was poor phasing from me. The group I read these on was the spring watch group. The Flickr group t&c's are not as stringent as direct uploads to the BBC website T&Cs as it still can only be used for spring/summer/autumn/winter watch related content whereas dire t uploads have more open t&c's. What's made me think is there other groups that work in a similar way? It seems Alastair has confirmed there are other groups that do work that way and many of us don't even notice.
 
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I try and keep the number of groups I'm in sensible enough so that I know each group and what it's for, if you reach the point you're over 50 groups it's unlikely you're truly active/engaging with more than three or four. I'm in a few groups with posting-means-sharing rules, although not necessarily to share images with these groups.

Here's an example, the blog The Phoblographer has an associated Flickr group..

And copying from the About page of the Flickr group..
Group Description
The Phoblographer is about the happenings in the world of photography/videography and how technology affects it and us everyday. If you have learned something from us, found our tips useful and maybe found your photography changed by something on this site, please share your photos with us.
Group Rules
You know and agree that all submissions can be used on ThePhoblographer.com in postings.
Submissions may be of anything and removal and moderation may be done at ThePhoblographer's will.​

I don't find these unclear or unreasonable, and I came to that group expecting to find something similar. Other blog-related groups (e.g. the Strobist Flickr group) have similar rules that say photos posted in the Pool may be shared via the blog.


Following the Groups From Our Sponsors sidebar gets you to the commercial sponsor groups and their rules can be more interesting..
There don't seem to be as many sponsors as there used to be.
 
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