Oh Instagram, You Silly Minx

Ah, Instagram.

I'm just gonna go ahead and leave this here for you.

There's more to it than this, though. Instagram is a service and a business. They do not charge you to download the app. They do not charge you a subscription to continue using the app. You are using *their* software to produce content--you HAD to know there was a catch, right? You waived your right to complain when you agreed to their TOS. If you don't care about copyright, and you don't care about what you're producing, then this is all fine. 90% of Instagram seems to be snapshots of inside jokes. It's a little narcissistic to assume anyone would really care about these types of photos.

If you really cared about copyright, and protecting your work as an artist, and you took the business of photography seriously, then you would have been informed enough initially not to enter into a contract with Instagram in the first place. I freely admit I have bias because I have never had an interest in Instagram, but these same issues can be applied to Facebook because....FACEBOOK PURCHASED INSTAGRAM. Instagram only changed their TOS to parallel that of Facebook, now their parent company.

Facebook is a free service that I use often. I don't agree with their policies, but I understand they have the right to farm my information and content. It might be overly simplistic, but what would Facebook really want with single, lo-res image from a single fashion editorial? They're more interested in knowing I'm a 20-something American female in a relationship who "likes" certain things so they can send me targeted ads for engagement rings and cake mix (no, really, that's, like, all I get from them). For the time being, I suspect that's all Instagram wants, too, if that.

There are too many legal issues at hand and too much speculation. We have no idea what will happen until Instagram and Facebook actually do something. For all we know, Instagram won't actually want access to actual photos, and the phrasing of the TOS is simply to cover all bases so they can legally have access to them at a later date, should they decide that's what they want. Honestly, that's probably all this is: "We have no idea what we'll want from you in the future, but we reserve the right to take all the time we need to figure it out and still be protected when we make a decision."

Don't like it? Don't do it. Delete your account and all your photos. Otherwise, I really don't want to hear about it.

Edit: yes, I understand the irony/hypocrisy of this commentary on something like Blogger. I'm ok with it.