This is an article (short article) I wrote for the FLPP facebook page.
Instagram; You know, that image hosting site where cousin Sally puts all of her self portraits and then shares them with Facebook. Where Jody from school puts all those pictures of his basketball field trips and then posts it all to twitter. Well, starting January 16, 2013 instagram has reserved the right to sell your photos and updates to advertisers as stock photos. If you don't want your privacy compromised it might be a good idea to remove your pictures before then. Now this may come as a shock, but it's in the TOS. Who reads that anyways?
It reads:
"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."
That translates to:
While you still own your photos, we can use them in any way we see necessary while not compensating you for them. The new rule applies to adults as well as teens. As long as you are over 13 they can sell your photos.
What are your options?
The simplest option would be to switch image host, a few good free ones are tinypic, photobucket and imageshack. The choice is ultimately up to you.
Read more about the new policy:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/18/technology/social/instagram-sell-photos/
