Flickr blocked and Flickr blocks?
Flickr says it is being blocked in China, while blogger Violet Blue says her Flickr images have been put behind a members-only wall.
So Flickr has had an interesting couple of days on both sides of the restrictions fence.
First, the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Flickr says it is being blocked in China.
"In postings on its Web site Thursday, Flickr said it was experiencing no technical problems and that its service was in fact being blocked, without saying by whom," The Chronicle wrote on its Web site late Friday night. "In an update Friday, co-founder Stewart Butterfield wrote that the Web site's staff is checking on the issue periodically and that the blocking continues.
"We hope that this is a temporary issue, and we currently believe that it will be," The Chronicle quoted Butterfield as having posted. "In the meantime, we are investigating our alternatives."
Then, on the flip side, Forbes.com reported that well-known sex and technology culture writer Violet Blue is claiming that most of her Flickr images had been unilaterally placed behind a members-only wall.
"Today, unless you're a member of (Flickr), my account has been erased," Blue wrote on her site. "Except, confusingly, right now you can go to my page and see *only* the nipple-tastic photos I removed form public searches."
It's an odd confluence of events for the popular photo-sharing service.
