I posted an article earlier about Instagram (now owned by Facebook) changing their Terms of Service (TOS) to include giving Instagram the rights to sell your photos and other info to third party interests. Here is the original change to the TOS that was going into effect...
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.
Because of all of the uproar from users, Instagram has now changed the TOS to allow you to determine who you wish to share your photos with and can set your options to private or public (the same thing as Facebook's policies) Here is the article from CNET if you wish to read it. Here is an important item in the updated TOS which goes into affect January 19, 2012, that indicates that you do own your photos and the sub-license you grant to Instagram seems to be based on your privacy settings...
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, subject to the Service's Privacy Policy, available here http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/, including but not limited to sections 3 ("Sharing of Your Information"), 4 ("How We Store Your Information"), and 5 ("Your Choices About Your Information"). You can choose who can view your Content and activities, including your photos, as described in the Privacy Policy.
Here is a tidbit from Instagram's Privacy Policy which they are also in the process of updating...
SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION
We will not rent or sell your information to third parties outside Instagram (or the group of companies of which Instagram is a part) without your consent, except as noted in this Policy.
Parties with whom we may share your information:
- We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of, or that become part of that group ("Affiliates"). Affiliates may use this information to help provide, understand, and improve the Service (including by providing analytics) and Affiliates' own services (including by providing you with better and more relevant experiences). But these Affiliates will honor the choices you make about who can see your photos.
- We also may share your information as well as information from tools like cookies, log files, and device identifiers and location data, with third-party organizations that help us provide the Service to you ("Service Providers"). Our Service Providers will be given access to your information as is reasonably necessary to provide the Service under reasonable confidentiality terms.
- We may also share certain information such as cookie data with third-party advertising partners. This information would allow third-party ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you.
- We may remove parts of data that can identify you and share anonymized data with other parties. We may also combine your information with other information in a way that it is no longer associated with you and share that aggregated information.
It seems Instagram will honor your choices with regards to how you wish to share your photos as well as it affiliates which includes Facebook. This, I think, is good news and keeps Instagram and Affiliates from being the
"new iStockPhoto, except they won't have to pay you anything to use your images."
With all of these changes going on with Instagram, it just goes to show how powerful a voice on the web can be for both good and bad. At least Instagram was willing to listen to the virtual voices.
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Instagram Privacy Policy in the works
