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*Though the following paperwork was submitted by a person who would like to remain anonymous, it is authentic and comes from a fairly well-known case.  We also would like to note that all black marks in the specific paperwork (below) were added digitally by the individual who submitted it, to protect their personal information as well as information that has no need to be public.

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Over the past few years many writers have used Flickr photosharing accounts as a platform to network within the graffiti community.  This has allowed writers to gain more exposure for their work, by having pieces done locally viewed by a worldwide audience.  On the flipside, this has made it easier than ever for authorities to find out more information about the culture and the individuals that they are interested in prosecuting.  So when  posting photos of your trains, spots, and god knows what else, you can rest assured that these photos, comments, and messages can (and very possibly will) be used against you.

WARRANTS

A warrant for your Flickr account can be supoenaed a few different ways. Police are known for lurking on internet forums and social networking platforms.  When they come across a flickr account that posts photos of the same tag repeatedly, it is not too difficult for them to convince a judge to issue a warrant for that account (as seen in the paperwork above).  Also, a surprising amount of well established writers have public  Flickr accounts under their tag name, and have back and forth conversations about personal matters with others in the comments section, making it even easier to tie the account to a specific writer.  When your Flickr account is subpoenaed, it allows law enforcement to view any email accounts tied to the Flickr account, and also the IP address you login from (which then leads them having access to any other emails/personal accounts that log in from the same IP address).  Another way authorities can get a warrant for a flickr account is if they already have one for your Emails/IP address.  Even if you put your Flickr in a fake name and email, chances are you are still logging into it from the same IP address as you log into your personal email, thus making it available to authorities.

YAHOO’S OFFICIAL INFORMATION SHARING AND DISCLOSURE:
“We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Yahoo!’s terms of use, or as otherwise required by law.” -Yahoo!

The above is Yahoo!’s policy regarding warrants and subpoenas.  As Flickr is owned by Yahoo!, this policy applies to it as well. It’s a pretty straight forward policy that says they will give law enforcement agencies any and all information that they request (including password information, email information, access to your private photos/messages, etc).

YOUR DATA

Yahoo! automatically receives and records information from your computer and browser, including your IP address, Yahoo! cookie information, software and hardware attributes, and the page you request. Whenever you upload something to Flickr, it is stored by Yahoo!.  Whether you delete or suspend the account Yahoo! will always have your files stored.  Much like how if you try and delete a Facebook account, it is not actually deleted it is only “deactivated”. All of your information is stored indefinitely on their servers, and it can be accessed at any time.  That is why if you have a free account you can only view the last 200 photos, but as soon as you upgrade to Pro, all of you photos automatically show up, without you having to re-upload them (and why if you have a Pro account and forget to pay for it, all of your photos automatically come back as soon as you do). This is a good time to point out that we notice a surprising amount of people leaving the EXIF data on their photos (which Flickr stores, and will give to authorities, allowing more evidence to be tied to you).

Summary: When you post photos on Flickr, assume they are being seen by law enforcement.  Know that your Flickr account can and will be used to tie you to your email accounts/residence/IP address (and vice versa).  In a perfect world, everyone would keep the photos off the internet, but a perfect world this is not. So if you must share via the www, be very conscious of how you do so.