Photos In The Public Domain

It basically boils down to Buzznet, who's user pages are by default (you can change it in your Buzznet account) being CC licensed as "public domain". Buzznet is a sort of joint photoblog, the sum of the contributions of various individuals ("Your photos on the Web instantly! Signup for your free photoblog!" is their pitch on their website.) Buzznet's terms of service prohibits users from using the service to "upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law," but mentions nothing about public domain (or that the default settings of the system are to release those photos to public domain.)

Which means that this picture probably isn't really public domain despite the Creative Commons license on that page saying so (and despite it being the "Featured Photo" on the front page of Buzznet as I write this) because it's posted in violation of the terms of service.

But what of this photo? Is it really public domain? Does "cjid" (the poster) realize that the photo is listed as public domain and that I could use it for anything I wanted with no restrictions? What about this photo of a group of minors? What about this one of Tom Jones? With "public domain" as the default, more users than not have their photos posted with no right reserved.

I guess the underlying question is whether or not the people keeping photoblogs through the service realize they are not just sharing the photos, that they are (by default) certifying that they are public domain (in the CC agreement) and indemnifying Buzznet in the terms of service of any responsibility for that legal affair.

In the CC public domain licensing agreement, it reads: "A certifier has taken reasonable steps to verify the copyright status of this work." So who is the certifier in this case, if it defaults to public domain with no certifier? Buzznet (who set the default), or the individual user (who posted the picture)?

What if a Buzznet user changes their mind and from their control panel changes their CC license option to be "all rights reserved" -- are the people who used those images under "public domain" now in violation of the new rights assignment? If so, how is collaboration supposed to happen if each piece you use can have the rights change after you've utilized it?

Defaulting to "public domain" is probably a very bad idea on Buzznet's part.

UPDATE 5:30PM I posted a message about my finding in the cc-licenses list, and by sheer co-incidence Metafilter's Matt Haughey responded with a note and then later a confirmation that Buzznet will be changing their system to default users to no Creative Commons licensing, instead of to public domain.