Instagram has updated it’s privacy policy and guess what your photos will be sold to third parties without payment or notification. Instagram, a Facebook photo sharing app said it has the perpetual right to sell your photographs.
This must be of concern to you if you use Instagram:
By accessing or using the Instagram website, the Instagram service, or any applications (including mobile applications) made available by Instagram (together, the “Service”), however accessed, you agree to be bound by these terms of use (“Terms of Use”). The Service is owned or controlled by Instagram, LLC (“Instagram”). These Terms of Use affect your legal rights and obligations. If you do not agree to be bound by all of these Terms of Use, do not access or use the Service.
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.
Note the key parenthetical — “(along with any associated metadata)” — which you could read as “location data.” In essence, if you go to the Palms in Las Vegas and snap a pic… Facebook Instagram may use that photograph in an advertisement for the Palms that reaches your friends.
If Instagram users continue to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and subsequently delete their account after the deadline, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity.
Update:
In response to the revised privacy policy to sell your photos, Instagram has responded to your user concerns and this is what the founders have said in their recent blog post.
I’m writing this today to let you know we’re listening and to commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your questions, fix any mistakes, and eliminate the confusion. As we review your feedback and stories in the press, we’re going to modify specific parts of the terms to make it more clear what will happen with your photos.
Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.
