Just as quickly as the new Terms of Service, were introduced they are now being “reworded”. Instagram is set to correct their huge blunder. Sadly it wasn’t because they realized they did the wrong thing but rather the mass deletion of accounts that led them to “reword” their TOS.
In case you missed the latest Instagram (popular photo sharing site) mess they decided to, as companies often do (e.g. Verizon changing their unlimited plan but that is a different rant), change their Terms of Services. Normally, this is no big deal; however, they decided to do something I can only say is pretty “ballsy” – they added language that basically allowed them to sell your photos for their benefits/promotions without 1. telling you, 2. compensating you, or 3. not letting you to opt-in/out. So yes, that would mean the picture of your son’s/daughter’s B-day party you uploaded to share with family could be sold.
As soon as this new policy made the “rounds” on the Interwebs, people were flocking to remove their accounts (the only way to opt out) by the thousands. So much so that twitter feeds like #boycottinstagram were trending on Tuesday. And as you would imagine, this in turn became a big “selling point” for all of the Instagram competitors out there thus forcing Instagram to rethink its change. In fact, Instagram is now in the process of wising up and is set to change the language – or reword the confusing parts as they put it (yeah right).
I know what you are thinking, thanks for the update but why are you telling me all this when I already heard about it. Well for starters this just reinforces the notions that you should be aware and vigilant on your Internet presence and know what you are agreeing to when you sign up for sites like Instagram and know how to get rid of your accounts if/when you so choose to. Being aware of your rights and the rights of the companies you use on the internet is a key to protecting your data. Also, if you own the rights to media like pictures then it would be good to “watermark” them if sharing online that way you have control of them (somewhat at least).