Instagram now has the right to sell your photos

Instagram said today that it has the perpetual right to sell users’ photographs without payment or notification, a dramatic policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook Completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users deletetheir accounts before the January deadline, then the users cannot opt out.

Under the new policy, Facebook claims the perpetual right to license all pubic Intagram photos, companies’ photos or any other organisation, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the web site into the world’s largest stock photo agency.

Another hidden danger in the policy: If Instagram users continue to upload photos after January 16, 2013, a subsequently delete their account after the deadline, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity. There’s no obvious language that says deleting an account terminates Facebook’s rights, EFF’s Opsahl said.

Facebook’s new rights to sell Instagram users’ photos come from two additions to its terms of use policy. One section deletes the current phrase “limited license” and, by inserting the words “transferable” and “Sub-licensable,” allows Facebook to license users’ photos to any other organisation.

A second section allows Facebook to charge money. It says that “a business or other entity may pay us to display your photos in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.” That language does not exist in the current terms of use.

It’s true, of course, that Facebook may not intend to monetize the photos taken by Instagram users, and that lawyers often draft overly broad language to permit future business opportunities that may never arise.

EFF’s Opsahl says the new policy runs afoul of his group’s voluntary best practices for social networks. He added: “hopefully at some point we’ll get greater clarity from Facebook and Instagram.”