Instagram Backtracks on The Whole "Evil Terms of Use" Thing
Instagram changed its terms of use yesterday, and it looked like they would be ushering in a dystopian future where our every Instagram photo would be sold to the highest bidder, and perhaps projected onto massive blimps branded with McDonald's logos as the blimps fly around the rotted-out-husks of what once were great American cities. Everyone freaked out. But now Instagram says they were mis-understood.
In a grand tech company tradition, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has now "clarified" his company's terms of service in a blog post, explaining that everything written there actually meant roughly the opposite of what it seemed to mean.
The most controversial change appeared to grant Instagram the right to sell your photos for the use in advertising: However, Systrom writes, "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."
In fact your pictures won't be turning up in any advertising at all:
The language we proposed also raised question about whether your photos can be part of an advertisement. We do not have plans for anything like this and because of that we're going to remove the language that raised the question.
So, there you go. The only thing you have to worry about Instagram now is a gradual degradation of the soul through constant narcissism.