Yahoo's photo service faces censorship complaints in Germany

In the latest outcry against Yahoo's practices outside the US, Flickr is fending off censorship complaints because it is preventing users in Germany from viewing many of the images posted on its web site, an Associated Press report said.

The limitations, imposed earlier this week when Flickr launched a German-language version of its service, have provoked indignant online protests that apparently caught management off guard, the Associated Press report said.

Flickr has previously encountered similar criticism when some of its photos were blocked in the UAE and China, the Associated Press report said.

The problems in Germany, reported earlier by citizen journalism web site NowPublic.com, revolve around controls enabling Flickr's users to identify photos that should not be viewed by children or other people who might be offended by the images, the report said.

The 'SafeSearch' function usually can be turned off by users interested in seeing all the photos available on Flickr, but that option is not being offered in Germany, the report said.

Yahoo said Flickr's restrictions adhere to strict German laws requiring web sites to verify that visitors are old enough to see potentially sensitive content, it added.