donmikes Loc: Doylestown, PA

I’d appreciate your comments on this:

I have uploaded many images to Flickr by using the sharing function on IPhoto. (I don’t like Apple’s Photos and am not interested in organizing myself with Lightroom.) Now I am wondering if this approach is a convenient backdoor for hackers to enter my computer. The files are synchronized, which means that deletions on the computer albums will also cause deletions on the Flickr site and vice versa. So there seems to be a permanent link. I could probably avoid this by using the Flickr uploader.

I’m also wondering if it is risky to use Flickr at all –- considering that it is a Yahoo site, and Yahoo has been subject to extensive security breaches.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

It seems like you are quite competently answering your own question. Start weighing alternatives, including Lightroom.

blue-ultra Loc: New Hampshire

I think you have answered your own question. I stopped using Flicker a few years ago and basically rely on the cloud for back up, such as google, dropbox and Adobe... Hope this is helpful to you.

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

No, Flickr is not a back door into your system.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

I have 39,000 photos on Flickr®, but they have all been uploaded using either their own tool or (more recently) a tool included with Lightroom®. I have not seen any indications of a hacking risk. (I use Flickr® not principally as a backup location, but as a venue for friends and relatives to view my pictures; I take advantage of the hierarchical organization possible with that product to make it easier to people to navigate through my photos.)

Jim Bob

Listen: there is always a risk in using any Internet based site. It's that simple.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Big mistake using Flickr. Looks like once you put photos on Flickr, they are stuck there. I have some on Flickr, no way to move them back to back to my computer, or simply remove them from Flickr. or at least era(some earlier ones lost due to a drive problem.). No tech help. I regret ever using Flickr.

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

I use Flickr but only for a place to share images with friends and family. They and I can easily download photos. However the photos are not exactly what was uploaded. Do a test and you'll see - export and upload a photo then download it and compare the size of the two images. Flickr is not too different from FB and others. To save space they compress or reduce the size of the file. For that reason it should never be a backup solution.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

I only use Flickr for my friends to see my photo, I always down size them to about 1mb or less.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Very true not to use for backup. No download feature on Flicker that I know of, sending a link to a friend works fine

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I've been on Flickr since 2004. Never had any issues. I used to downsize my images, but don't anymore. The way I see it, any online posting of images is subject to their theft, regardless of where you post them.. As for someone getting into your system via a "backdoor" thru Flickr, not going to happen.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

I don't know much about how the synchronization works, but if it worries you, un-synchronize!

What I want to communicate is something about the risks of relying on Flickr. Make sure you have backups of your images on external hard drives (xHD) as well as the folders on your HD. I was using Flickr for a number of years and liked it because it was good - until suddenly it was not! What happened is that I would sign in and not be directed to the page I had carefully set up. I was sent instead to a different page - one I had started and abandoned before starting the page I had been using. I was no longer recognized as the Administrator of my own page... None of the self-help topics fit this situation, so I could not find a way to fix it. Going onto the Community page and asking if there was a solution, I discovered there were many other people asking similar questions.

My last avenue to try to contact someone to help was to report it as abuse! There was a response, apparently from a real person, basically telling me to look at all the self-help and community pages. Having already described what I had done, I tried again, telling them that since Flickr had basically "hijacked" my page, this ought to qualify as "abuse" - by Flickr. I received another email, again suggesting I go to the areas I had already visited:

"Yahoo proudly offers help channels where you can find answers to many of your technical questions. While direct support for Flickr isn't available, there are several places to go for help:

"Flickr Community Forum

Yahoo Help Community Forum - A forum to search for and ask questions about specific Yahoo products.

Social Media - Find us on Facebook or Twitter."

I wrote again, this time repeating that I had already tried these places, and told them they had a "No Help Available" attitude. Always polite, always describing things clearly, getting nothing back... That is, not from a person. Here is their final response:

"We've closed your case as we believe we've fully addressed it.

If you still need help, you can contact us using the options available at: Yahoo Help Central. Thanks!

The Yahoo Customer Care Team

P.S. Any reply to this email will go unanswered as this email address is not monitored. But, we're happy to help you further via our website above."

No need to guess what I did - I switched sites and set up a whole new page. I already had a page on 500px, and found that a real person will answer questions! So my solution was to expand the number of pictures posted, and to organize them in Galleries (work just like the folders on Flickr). My old pages are still on Flickr, the one I had developed and the other one which I tried to delete. Their system allowed me to delete it, but instantly replaced it with another! It took a while to get my 500px page where it is now, because at the "free" level I can only upload 20 pages per week. But that's OK, I didn't want to do it all at once anyway! And I had no intention of putting every picture I have taken up there - not even all of the "best"...

So take care NOT to TRUST Flickr. Things go wrong on other sites, I am sure, but on Flickr there is no one to help, and you can lose access to the page you worked hard to develop.

Susan

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

It's a very simple procedure to remove images from Flickr. You can easily delete your entire account from Flickr if you wish to.

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

But, Flickr is owned and operated by YAHOO, so I do fully understand the trepidation in using it. They do have a history of ineptitude and incompetence 😬

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Flickr, while owned by Yahoo, has it's own team working on it, not other Yahoo departments