Flickr Updates Policy To Kill Copyright Trolls, Siding ‘Free Image’ Users

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If you’re always on the lookout for free-to-use images, you’re regrettably opening yourself up to the tactics of “copyright trolls,” professionals who exploit loopholes in Creative Commons (CC) licenses to extort steep amounts of money from users. Due to their notorious traps—which we covered in an in-depth investigation late last year—they’re also often known as “copyleft” trolls.

From our research, we found that Flickr is unfortunately one of the biggest hotbeds in which these trolls operate because many of the photos on its platform are labeled under CC licenses—and outdated ones at that. Then, using image-tracking AI tools, they comb the web for so-called offenders.

The danger with “free-to-use” images

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