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You did read your Instagram Terms of Service? [Darleen Click]

No? No one really reads those things since they’re pretty standard.

Right?

Since 2010, more than 16 billion images and movies have been uploaded to Instagram. The organizations believe that few of the users who share images on the site understand the rights they are giving away. […]

Specifically, the Terms of Use give Instagram perpetual use of photos and video as well as the nearly unlimited right to license the images to any and all third parties. And, after granting this broad license to Instagram, users also relinquish the right to terminate the agreement. Once uploaded, they cannot remove their work and their identity from Instagram. Additionally, in the event of litigation regarding a photo or video, it is the account holder who is responsible for attorney and other fees, not Instagram.

Moreover, while Instagram’s agreement includes the right to sublicense images, it specifically excludes the need to ever pay creators, regardless of the way the company may use or sell their work. The photographic community believes strongly that fair compensation for the creators of work is a vital component of a fair agreement.

According to ASMP Executive Director Eugene Mopsik, “While clearly benefiting Instagram, the rights of imaging professionals and general users stand to be infringed upon in an unprecedented way. We are concerned that not only have Instagram’s Terms of Use gone beyond acceptable standards, but also that other social media providers may use these onerous terms as a template for their own agreements.”

10 Replies to “You did read your Instagram Terms of Service? [Darleen Click]”

  1. Drumwaster says:

    I have routinely said that if you are not paying for the service, you are NOT the customer. You are the product being marketed to third parties.

  2. geoffb says:

    Hotel California, the business model.

    You can checkout any time you want but your photos never leave.

  3. Robb Allen says:

    Alas, I do not see the issue. You are paying for the service via a bartering system. You trade them your images for their social network / storage.

    A carpenter no more retains the right to his cabinetry after the install and payment and cannot sue when the house is sold to another (or, if the cabinets are removed and put out for $5 in a garage sale). To me, this is no different.

    As said above, you are the *product*, not the client. There are plenty of pay services that are more than happy to store your images and take cash in lieu of selling your work later.

  4. Squid says:

    One can only wish that millions of disaffected users will stop taking pictures of their food at every meal.

  5. serr8d says:

    I recall a big kerfuffle about this when Instagram changed their terms of service, what, January of this year? Photographers who were ‘real’ photographers stirred up much stink, with the effect that Instagram relented…let’s see…here. And here.

    Users saw this change as Instagram’s attempt to convert users’ personal pictures for the company’s own use and profit. After millions of members unsubscribed from the service, Instagram relented and abandoned the controversial change. While the proposed language was never implemented, the December 2012 incident offers insight into the current state of internet privacy.

    Instagram’s 2012 revised policy change could be described as a failure of imagination. Since the company did not adequately assess the preferences of its user base in regard to the proposed language, Instagram misjudged the intense user reaction that followed. Instagram needed to better understand its users prior to posting the controversial language and determine which changes could be accepted by its users and which could not. This could have been accomplished through questioning users in focus groups or with polls. Allowing users to have a voice in the privacy conversation may prove to be a worthy investment as ideas never previously considered could be discovered.

  6. serr8d says:

    Food? Pictures of food, you say? )

  7. cranky-d says:

    I have never heard of Instagram before.

  8. serr8d says:

    A prerequisite for Instagram is a smart phone with a camera. Some new smartphones have better cameras than anyone had prior to 1999.

    This is a new Nokia smartphone with a 41 megapixel camera. It takes about 13 or so megapixels to equal the quality (defined as the ability to enlarge a photo without nassty blurring) of standard 35 mm film. My favorite digital camera, now sadly outdated, only had 8 MP, but the fun I’ve had with it? Priceless.

  9. cranky-d says:

    A prerequisite for Instagram is a smart phone with a camera.

    Well, that explains it. I bought a remedial phone (crappy smart phone) to replace my moron phone (only works for making phone calls) last November, but I found a new charger for the moron phone so never activated the smart phone.

    I guess I should get on that.

  10. mondamay says:

    I know how to get them to delete your account (May not be entirely safe for work).

Comments are closed.