On Flickr, some pictures you cannot save... is that because the author blocked any use?

Question

I want to use a specific image by when I go to save it it saves as "spaceball.gif" which essentially is a blank canvas. This has occurred quite a number of times.

Do I need to ask the author for explicit permission?

Answer 1

You are right, some pictures can't be saved because their owners don't want others to use them. Of course you can always ask for permission, but some users may not give it or try to sell their pics.