They could easily respond to an article like "Flickr allows stealing of artist work" by adding "nopin" later.
However, I don't disagree with their intention. It is nice that they are considering the user in that way.
Maybe a better implementation would be for it to be a preference, rather than assuming. They could have an option like "prevent users from posting my photos to other websites".
They have a setting that says "Allow others to share your stuff". If you have marked it No, it cannot be shared to Pinterest. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
> They could have an option like "prevent users from posting my photos to other websites".
(EDIT: Totally missed the "Allow others to share your stuff" option that spullara mentioned. I still think that feature should probably be wrapped hand-in-hand with CC, though.)
Flickr already has this in the CC licenses, which are already more specific options than that. (Anything in CC is "allow people to use this elsewhere" to some extent.)
Honestly, this could all be made better by making the CC licenses more prominent and making the descriptions much more human-readable (for the non technical, non startup-y crowd).
* Let other people use my photos as long as they credit me. (Yes is locked in)
* Let other people use my photos on products and websites where they make money. (Yes/No)
* Let other people use this for collages, Photoshopped mashups, and other derivative works. (Yes/As long as they use the same open license for it/No)
(With some sort of live-updating "here is the license you have ended up with and here is what it means" bit.)
I’m not sure if the licensing stuff shows up in the Flickr registration process at all, but maybe a reminder in the (relatively spacious) sidebar every few logins would help folks choose the right thing.
I don't think the if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality is really appropriate for an innovative company. Flickr is simply giving its users the option to add a line of code Pinterest introduced that restricts how their work is used, which they are fully allowed to do. The title mis-represents the action.
If they had gone the other way, the headline could be "Flickr allows stealing of artist work".