An interesting article exploring the nature of the flickr community.
“In public life, we know how the line is drawn. It’s drawn ploddingly by legislative and judicial bodies — a maddening process often, but theoretically an accountable one. In the public-private sphere of online communities, however, a company like Flickr is only as accountable as it chooses to be.
Anyone familiar with the reigning ethos at Flickr might find it strange to even mention such things — if our public officials were half as thoughtful, attentive and responsible as the Flickr folks, the world would be a saner place. But the company’s good juju doesn’t diminish the fact of its power, circumscribed as it is, and the larger trend of this power migrating from public zones to private ones.”
