If you use Google’s Picasa service to share photographs (as I do) and also use Google+, you may be troubled to discover that Google is redirecting links to your Picasa albums to its Google+ social networking service. I find this a dubious business practice that violates Google’s motto, “Don’t Be Evil.” It’s evil because:
- Picasa users are not informed that their Picasa links will be redirected to Google+;
- Those without Google accounts cannot download photos at full resolution from privately shared albums on Google+;
- Google appears to be hijacking users’ Picasa links to promote its Google+ service.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116790950801070160641
Clicking on that link redirects you to my albums on Google+. But the following modified link will not be redirected:
https://picasaweb.google.com/116790950801070160641?noredirect=1
If the link you want to share already includes parameters after a question mark (as will links to privately shared albums), then simply add “&noredirect=1″ to those parameters.
But we shouldn’t have to manually edit Picasa URLs to prevent them from being automatically redirected. Google should fix this by ceasing automatic redirects and offering Picasa users who so desire the option of sharing albums via Google+.
