Instagram Likes You SO Much They Reserve the Right To Sell You
So Instagram has new terms of service, which already has a lot of people running for the hills (or, I guess, the rooftops or something. I don’t know, it’s mostly flatland around here). Unless it’s always been your lifelong ambition to be an unpaid stock photographer, Instagram may no longer be for you come January 16, 2013, when the new terms go into effect.
New terms, section 1 under “Rights”:
Basically, Instagram can sell your photos, for profit, without having to consult you, let alone give you a dividend of said profits. This doesn’t mean that the photos you take of every meal you eat ever (seriously, stop) are going to start showing up in Healthy Choice ads, but in theory, they could, and that principle in and of itself is alarming. Also, I can only assume they have some kind of plan in mind that led to their implementation of these new terms, which makes me uncomfortable.
Section 2 under “Rights”:
Just like Facebook, which now owns Instagram, every piece of information Instagram has about you is up for grabs to anyone they choose to sell it to. They can sell data about you to advertising companies doing market research, or for any other reason. Remember privacy? Cherish those memories.
Section 3 under “Rights”:
They owe you nothing, down to not having to say a single word about exploiting you, ever.
Section 4 under “Rights”
Basically, you own all of your photos, except that since you’re using Instagram, you’re willingly giving them all the rights to them. Unless you take a picture of something with a trademarked logo, Instagram sells it and then gets sued for using the logo without permission – then you have to take the fall. So… yeah, your photos are technically yours, but Instagram gets all the benefits and if s**t gets real, it’s all on you.
The new terms of service go into effect on January 16th, and if you do not delete your account by then, any content in it is vulnerable. This includes content deleted after January 16th, as Instagram also reserves the right to create backups and use them as they choose to, even after you have taken it down.
Really, Instagram? You couldn’t have just come out with a pro version and added a couple of new filters or something? You can make money on a phone app without exploiting your users’ content, you know. The updated policy is already making tons of people extremely unhappy and wary of continuing to use Instagram. It’s unreasonable to think that any service should be free while using up resources. This one, however, shows a complete disregard for the personal usage benefits that made it so popular in the first place, as well as for the privacy of users themselves. You have to respect your customer base in order to maintain a good relationship – or any at all.
Image via ShutterStock
