I see a lot of good photos on flickr, and they can be easily saved and copied. Why arent they protected?

Question

I see tons of pics on Flickr that have the potential to be sold for lots of money and they are pretty much free for the taking. Why dont photographers protect their work on here?

Answer 1

Some users may not realize that Flickr offers the protection feature and others don't mind if their pics are copied for personal use...

Answer 2

Even the protected ones can be copied...if you view the source of the page, the url in the IMG tag right before the one containing "spaceball.gif" can be copied and pasted into the browser. Maybe some people know this is weak protection so they don't bother.

Answer 3

If they can be seen, the data has to be downloaded on your computer.

Even if you can block the saving option, no one can stop viewers from taking a screenshot.

So, if it can be seen, it can be saved too. It cannot be protected, unless you make it impossible to see them at all, in which case, it will defeat the main purpose.