Flickr website hacked in the US? - Nah, just Flickr trying to be cute .. (lame)

Photos

Flickr website hacked in the US

see larger image

uploaded by NYC.andre

Wednesday 9/19/2007  5:00 am EST USA -

Update - this is actually a PR stunt or Flickr trying to be cute, as today 9/19 is Pirate Day, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day:

" International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a parodic holiday
invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chumbucket") and Mark Summers
("Cap'n Slappy"), of the United States, who proclaimed September 19
each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a
pirate.[1] "

Notice the black Pirate flag on the upper left  of the image, covering the "Flickr Loves you" message.  This could be a form of protest from Flickr users against censorship, especially in Germany.

Flickr is between a rock and a hard place, it does have to protect itself against legal threats in the countries where it operates. In the US at least I have not seen any bad forms of censorship - I would say it tends to be rather lax.
The only bad snafu  I heard of is from Flickr *not* supporting, actually censoring well known photographer Rebekka when she expressed outrage on her stream that a London gallery had been stealing her pictures. In that instance Flickr apologized and redressed the situation.

I would imagine this incident will wake people up on the real lack of security of many internet related projects. And hopefully will not be exploited for "incorrect" forms of censorship - it is already a shame that no significant action has been taken against spammers.

If you have a flickr account, check it yourself. Or visit this page, screenshot as of 5 AM EST  http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycandre/1406764940/