Monday, December 17, 2012

You're Officially For Sale On Instagram

Instagram's new terms of service go into effect on Jan. 16, and you are its new product.



Instagram has a new terms of service and privacy policy that are going into effect on January 16. They're pretty much standard fare, but it's adopted a few things from the Facebook terms of service that you might not like, as Nick Bilton has pointed out. Here are the clauses bound to freak people out.



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.



What this means is that Instagram can now effectively sell the use of your username, profile picture, photos you've taken and records of what you've liked or commented on to another company — like an advertiser — and they don't have to pay you in order to do so. And you can't stop them.


Facebook's terms in this regard are similar, but Facebook does explicitly grant you the ability to adjust how your name and profile photo are used for ads and commercial content:



You can use your privacy settings to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. You give us permission to use your name and profile picture in connection with that content, subject to the limits you place.





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