Parallel Programming is one of the old Arts which the new "developers" don't know jack about.

A private company offers a service. Users use it. The users then starts using the service for a political agenda. The company removes the content referring to their TOS. I really cannot see the right of the users to complain.

I think there's a huge difference between sharing pictures and uploading pictures with a political content.

Further more, I just took a look at the TOS for Flickr and found the following interesting things :

8.1.a : Infringement of law including privacy :
Depicting the various police officers with name and picture is a direct violation of their privacy. Also, some places it is illegal to photograph police officers.

8.1.b Invasive of privacy :
Again, depicting police officers on the internet.

14.1 Lets Flickr change the service without any warning.

15.2 Lets Flickr kick you out without warning due to TOS violation or request by e.g. law enforcement.

20.1 Flickr is NOT responsible for your data.

So, by aggreeing to these terms, the user aggree to : If you violate the law or a law enforcement unit requests it Flickr can in worst case close your account and you can do diddley or take it to a court in Ireland. However, Flickr is NOT responisble for your data.

What is MORALLY or ETHICALLY correct to do isn't always the correct thing to do business wise.

Who is to judge when a private company with its own TOS has to do something OTHERS claim to be ethical / moral correct? If someone was to come up to me a claim that I had to do something because it was the "right thing to do" when I didn't want to I would get really pissed of and kick the person out.

Then they should look more like me instead ;-)

Before going ballistic, please read the entire post.

Flickr is a private company.Thus, they are entitled to have their own TOS providing it does not violate the law.

If one of these terms are "You are only allowed to upload your own material, i.e. material created by you or which you solely hold the copyright for." so be it.
The fact that the employers in our cases have been a little more "elastic" in enforcing this does not make the posting of someoneelse's material any less a violation of TOS. The same as other people getting off with a warning for speeding does not make your über speeding any less a violation of the trafic laws.

There is a HUGE difference between the possible consequence of allowing a post of some guys picture he took of a moose and that of people getting tortured. I can easily understand why Flickr employees decided to use the TOS to get them offline from Flickr. In Denmark a cartoonist drew Muhammed with a bomb in his turban, the got published in a newspaper ( and reprinted ) and behold - later 3 muslim jerks planned to shoot all the journalists at the newspaper. The cartoonist was attacked by a muslim with an axe. In my opinion, it was just a stupid drawing - in theirs it was BLASFEMY!

Let's say : I create an online service ( funded by adds ) in which ANYONE can upload ANYTHING.
Soon, the Nazis upload their stuff, Pedophile upload their picture of "gang bang night at the Kindergarten" as well as the "normal" pictures.
What should I do? If my TOS state that anything can be uploaded shouldn't I permit them to upload their data? Or should I be the judge, jury and executioner and delete any piece of info I didn't like? And then, who's to say that my opinion was the right one?

We can also turn the table : Would you be as aggrivated if :
The Egyptian Police themselves uploaded pictures of them torturing people ( as a kind of momentum / brag ) and had those pictures removed? Or the Somali war lords started slaughtering people, called it a "revolution" and uploaded the pictures which were then removed?

I think it's interesting to note that people react very aggressively when then are told that all sites, private companies etc. do not wish to provide storage for any "revolution" everywhere in the world? I have no interest in what's happening in Egypt and I am not affilliated with Flickr in any way. But I don't think that even though something is "ethical" or "the right thing to do" releases any user from the TOS. It is up to the private company to decide when to use the TOS and when not to.

It is not so that the pictures have been withheld from the internet - a private company have only decided to uphold the TOS.

And with these words, I wait for the FUD.

I support whistle blower against governments too.. But not at the expence of world stability.

I must admit that I ( in the beginning of Wikileaks ) was chearing for Wikileaks. The idea of a place for whistleblowers to blow the whistle on companies doing bad things ( like BP etc. ) was nice.

Then, documents regarding the war in Iraq and Afghanistan started turning up. Being a former military contractor I saw security issues in those. I supported blowing the whistle on masacres etc. but not on things putting military personnel at risk.

THEN, the cables came. There's no point in telling what goes on behind closed doors - e.g. diplomats saying that Sarcozy is a twat ( he is ). EXCEPT, if your agenda is to destabilize the world and destroy international diplomacy. Maybe even a New World Order lead by Assange himself? Don't believe that guy ever had any noble intentions.

IF the guy has indeed raped 2 women he should be procecuted.If not he should be cleared in a court of law. So, extradite him to Sweden and let him stand trial.

In my point of view, the guy is not a Messiah but an anarchist / a terrorist wearing a suit and hiding behind a computer. He needs to stand trial to face the crimes he MIGHT have committed. If he's innocent he has nothing to fear. Or is it a conspiracy against him?

Hi

I had a brief ( 3-4 years ) where I left the IT business and worked as an independent security contractor.

Now, I'm back in the IT business..

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering and did quite a few projects on Xilinx FPGAs the last couple of which I did in VHDL. Love the language. Easy understandable and using the Xilinx Developer Software ( incl. Schematic tools ) development was a breeze. :-D Also did VHDL in the industry.

In Denmark : Multimedia taxation.

If you own one or more of the following you are to pay up :

1. 3G Phone
2. PC with TV card
3. TV
4. Internet connection >= 256 kb/s