Instragram just updated their new terms of service today, and the fine print, while not shocking, certainly is concerning especially if you use the service to show off your work. Instagram has stated that starting on Jan. 16 the service will be able to use and sell your images for advertising without your knowledge and without offering compensation leaving users with the short end of the stick.
When you first read the new terms of service nothing seems to be out of the ordinary until you reach the 'rights' portion of the TOS. It explains what users of the service have authority over and in return what Instagram can do with publicly posted data specifically concerning advertising. While it says that you retain copyright of any material that's posted (as long as you rightfully own it), you will be giving Instagram a royalty-free and no limits license to use anything you post as long as it's posted publicly.
"Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, except that you can control who can view certain of your Content and activities on the Service as described in the Service's Privacy Policy, available here:http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/."
It later states that anything you post, including your display name, photos (including metadata), likeness, and/or actions can be sold by Instagram to other parties or companies to be used for advertising without any compensation to you or without your knowledge of the exchange/sale.
"Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.
You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such."
Now, before you start a filter pack panic realize that Instagram is a wide and vast place on the internet and over 4 billion photos and other data have been posted to the site. The chances of your data being used is slim, but the possibility is out there, and therein lies the problem. So, unless your posts are kept completely private you're open to having your photos ripped off and sold to any company that Instagram sees fit, without a paycheck or even a polite, 'Hey, we're selling your stuff, thanks buddy, Instagram out, peace.'
With Facebook now owning Instagram and having over 300 million photos posted each day it leads to believe that this may be a direction that the internet ruler (or dark lord) is heading towards in the near future. Perhaps it's time to dust off that good ole' Facebook copyright notice hoax and tuck it safely away for safe keeping. Not that it would do any good when it announces it now owns your soul.
I use Instagram to post my kids' silliness, co-workers being epic or meh... or sometimes epically meh. I also use it every time I'm shooting a DJ just for kicks. Looks like those days are behind me.
How do you feel about your Instagram images being sold without being asked or more importantly... compensated?
via: Gigaom.com
Not OK
I'm pretty upset about this.. I've for some pretty cool images on Instagram that look great when printed.. They didn't start out that way.. It was usually a shot I took with my iphone, then played around with in snapseed and it ended up looking really cool.. While its unlikely, this means they COULD sell a pic of my kid.. And I'm not happy about that.. Why does Suckerberg have to go and ruin things that are working... Apparently he doesn't believe in the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" his motto must be "if its working great, lets see how we can piss off our users
this is plain wrong... especially if they start to display and sell minor's photos... that is just not right...
Without model releases, it seems like they're asking for a world of legal trouble. (Not to mention subjecting photographers to potential litigation.) Instagram sells photo of person (with no model release) to company who uses it in advertisement = instant lawsuit by person in photo. It doesn't even matter if the photographer willingly grants usage of the photo to Instagram -- without a model release, it best not be used for commercial purposes.
good luck fighting a company with a team of lawyers.
Well, it's a free service. How do you think they make money? Someone's gotta pay for all that storage and bandwidth. They wouldn't be very profitable if they had to track down the author of each image, ask their permission, and compensate them. Love it or hate it, if you use a free service, be prepared to pay, in other ways. I don't see what all the fuss is about.
With all due respect, you are an idiot if you can't see "what all the fuss is about".
Keep sucking up to "the Man" and you will go broke with all the other sheep!
No one is saying they can make money with ads, but they don't have to use their user's images (for free) to do so.
Zuckerberrrgggggg! *fist shake*
Wahahahaha!
The Rebecca Brit FB post you have has no force in law.
I wonder how much the first lawsuit will bring?
Yeah that was meant as a joke. LOL!
"z0mg who caresssssssss?!?! instagram succcckkkkksssss anyway. filters are soooo0o lame"
z0mg I gotz hit in the face with some troll pie! I'm down, *weezes* tell my kids... I love them. *gasps* DEAD by trollz.
Im just glad I stopped using it.
Not cool.
I mainly post my work on there, and I don't want to put a logo dead center on every image I post.
All I gotta say is, :(
It's just to protect their own ass from us or anyone suing them for anything we post. This is the same reason Facebook has a similar clause. Just like any free online service, if you don't like their rules then don't play their game.
No other service has as overbearing a policy though, Facebook tried a few years back but stopped, quickly, when they realized the backlash.
I don't really care because I don't post my professional work on there.. as well as the fact that myself and almost every single other person in the world who uses Instagram will still continue to use it. I can guarantee you millions of people won't be deleting their accounts because of this.. after all they're just flippin camera phone photos.
And side note, if any of my material ended up in advertising I wouldn't care, actually I'd be stoked to see it out there! I don't want any money. It took me 30 seconds for me to take, edit and post that photo, I'm not going to start demanding money from something that took me no time at all.
WTF dude
IDEAS. ideas. and content. that's what matters. time is a consequence.
if someone wants that picture to show off some product or service, it means it's worth, no matter the time spent to create it.
there is some kind of time value behind it, wich is the time spent learning and improving yourself to the point that someone will pay somebody for a picture of yours. even if taken with a phone.. don't you see it? i work as a commercial photographer too [being portraiture my first "skill"], from time to time i shoot some still life, wich literally takes me roughly 2 hours to set up and 10 minutes shooting+editing for each piece or product. that means one day of work can produce big money, 4-500€ per hour. is it fair? i think so. my clients are gonna raise even bigger money based on the quality of their products pictures.
so your thoughts are unfair to the rest of us working that field. and that's the reason why many photography businesses aren't business no more. but i'm ok with it :) 3000 years ago, being able to write and read was a job indeed, now we all do, pretty much, and that's ok right? it seems that Benjamin's prophecy is actually right..
Just camera phones? It doesn't matter what camera the photo was taken with, like Stefano says it's about the ideas, creativity, and content that went into the photo. Sure, lots of people run and gun photos on their cell phones, but the stuff they create is still theirs. Is it 'just' a polaroid camera? Is it 'just' a toy camera? Is it 'just' a cell phone camera?
You may be stoked to see your stolen work used in an advertisement but imagine if you're a professional and you make your living off of those photos...all the revenue is lost from that potential client. Sure you might get seen, but what kind of potential client seeing that photo in an ad is going to go through all the trouble to contact the company that used it who is going to have to contact Instagram to find out who took it when they can find an equivalent photographer through normal channels...a straight up lost sale. A stolen sale, rather.
I wonder what are the implication for brands who use this service?
This might be a good thing. Maybe people now will just atop using this miserable service that has brought photography to Big Mac status.
Regarding all photos pre and post January 16th?
I heard a friend of a friend who got in a Coca Cola advertisement, from one of her Facebook image.
I didn't like Instagram anyway. I use Camera+ and I upload to flickr account. I pay for it but I don't have to deal with this sh... I wish I could move away from FB. Hope one day there will be a big migration to something like Google+
Everyone could show middle finger to FB ;)
Yes, because Google is such an angel when it comes to data usage :).
im absolutely disgusted.
im absolutely disgusted.
did i read correctly? Only public photos? As in, if the profile is private it's protected? I'm confused by everything I've read and this particular statement I just mentioned.
I have the same question kris
As in, if your photo is posted and it's not set to private, then it's up for grabs. I'm assuming that it's just the wording of their statement. I don't use Instagram regularly, so I'm not completely sure that you can make your content private or not. I don't see the point in social networking if everything is set to 'private' though. I'll have to fully read their privacy terms and update the article if I find otherwise.
ahhh ic. yes, you can make the profile private like you can make your facebook profile private in which you can only view photos after you have been accepted by the user. I GUESS that's a little better. I was about to delete my account :D I don't have much on there either but still this idea is revolting to me.
I'm sure everyone here is mad, they are all photographers but probably the average person wouldn't be bothered by it. It might even appeal to them.
actually now that I read it a bit more and now that I'm more awake, it doesn't seem like private profiles are safe either. No opt out, private and public profiles are fair game if I'm reading correctly >_<
oh well, I only started public posting recently. I won't delete my account, I will just delete my posts and keep the photos :p
Well instagram you just shot yourself in the foot. Lets watch those FB stocks go into free fall.
A building or a lanscape cannot bring litigation, I think they will avoid a photo with a person in it. I think your average person posting a snapshot from their phone would think it cool to see a photo they took used. A smaller percentage of us would not. 1 in 10 you still have 9 left to steal from
Isn't this more about their OWN advertising though? As in they're not selling the photos, but they need the release to use our images when they market Instagram so they don't get sued for copyright/usage infringement?
just deleted my account, so sad :( spam us with ads but DONT sell our pics
Good thing I got thrown off there and banned for life months ago due to posting "porn". Another one of those over zealous facebook censors that thinks a fine art nude is porn. Good luck folks. Zukerburg will just keep on raping you.
How big is the photo file on Instagram? Do you suppose you'll see your photo blown up and displayed on a 20'x30' billboard in Times Square? Don't post your professional work on there if you're worried. Yeah, this is a shame their going this route but it shouldn't surprise you seeing as they're owned by FB.
It's their ball park, so they can make the rules. But we don't have to play in their ball park so BYE!!!
Intellectual property rights have gone out the window, people already float images around the net without credit... but to see it in writing from Instagram & Facebook that they will sell your images takes it to a new level.
To anyone who is a serious creator or artist, or who cares about their own content, this is a HUGE deal, as it blurrs intellectual copyrights, but to the rest of the casual social users Instagram is banking on the fact that people will neglect their financial interests in favor of their social interests.
This is quite disturbing. Its irrelevant that I post crap on Instagram. Its a platform, having us posting our photos on a platform does not give that platform a right to own them. Its irrelevant what kind of content is posted. Just because I use Nikon to take photos, does not grant Nikon the right to own it.
Removed my account from there - even though I was there from the start. I have a feeling this will bleed into the FB world as well - so prepared to dump that as well.
Are there any good alternatives to instagram?
I would pay for the app. Why not just charge us instead?
hey drama queens - they just changed it again...
http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/updated/
completely took off anything to do with selling your photos ok ! - pass it on cos its spread by sheeple all over facebook now lol.. and your spreading false info now.. its been fixed !
That's the privacy policy, the terms of service is different and has not been changed.... yet.
Reason #347 why I never joined Instagram. I also watermark most of the photos I post on FB, and keep the really nice stuff on my own blog/website.
An Instagram photo made the cover of Time magazine. After Jan 16th, Instagram can profit off that image in direct violation of the photographer's and Time's usage agreements. Somebody's gonna get sued.