roccobike -
I think there HAS been a change:

Photobucket is now allowing a hyperlink from CL directly into your albums, though it seems that the visitor (with no password) can see only the subject picture in the host album, along with the directory name and your Photobucket nickname:
- This at least is the case if your albums are Private, instead of shared/public. (All of my albums are private so I can't say for certain what happens with shared/public albums)

I suspect Photobucket probably views this as an "improvement".

PS- If you are logged into your own Photobucket account, accessing CL from your own computer you will of course enable you to navigate anywhere without restriction.

PPS- I just sent a note to Photobucket to confirm if there has been such a change. . . Supposedly they try to answer every persons's question. I will let you know if I hear back.