FuckFlickr (2007) is open-source image gallery software created as an alternative to hosting your photos on a certain Yahoo-owned photo sharing site. It’s a lightweight PHP application that requires no database — just upload your images and it automatically generates a gallery with thumbnails.
Created by Theo Watson, Jamie Wilkinson, and Greg Leuch at F.A.T. Lab.
The project was a response to Yahoo’s controversial practices, including providing journalist Shi Tao’s email account information to Chinese authorities in 2005, which led to his 10-year imprisonment. We believed that major web platforms bear responsibility for their global impact on human rights and freedom of speech. FuckFlickr represents grassroots resistance, enabling users to reclaim control of their data by hosting images independently.
Features include: flat file storage (no database required), automatic thumbnail generation with animated GIF support, customizable themes, RSS feeds, lightbox, sorting, pagination, and caching. Configuration via simple YAML files for titles and descriptions.
The project got significant attention including being featured on the front page of TIME.com.
Note: The project was briefly renamed to “PhuckPhlickr” in 2016 after receiving a trademark notice from Yahoo Inc., but we’ve restored the original name here.