back to article Twitpic T&Cs spark teacup storm

Twitpic has sparked outrage among the Twitter user community by changing its terms and conditions. Sometime early in May, the photo-sharing site replaced its broad (and ill-defined) copyright statement with a new, more detailed policy. Formerly, the heart of Twitpic’s copyright was a single sentence: “By uploading your photos …

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  1. Andrew Norton
    FAIL

    time loop?

    This story was done and dusted 3 weeks ago.

    And I support the 'stuck in a time loop' statement, by submitting this story in... TIME magazine, about it, from May 11th entitled "Twitpic Says Sorry for Copyright Confusion" http://techland.time.com/2011/05/11/twitpic-says-sorry-for-copyright-confusion/

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Twit pic.

    A twit and his picture are easily parted.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Errr...

    Flickr doesn't have such terms with regards to photos (text is a different matter): to quote:

    "(b) With respect to Content you elect to post for inclusion in publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups or that consists of photos or other graphics you elect to post to any other publicly accessible area of the Services, you grant Yahoo! a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish such Content on the Services solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted, or, in the case of photos or graphics, solely for the purpose for which such photo or graphic was submitted to the Services. This licence exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Services and shall be terminated at the time you delete such Content from the Services." from Yahoo ToS.

    Imageshack.us is even more clear:

    "he content that you distribute through the ImageShack Network is owned by you, and you give ImageShack permission to display and distribute said content exclusively on the ImageShack Network.

    You may revoke this permission at any time by requesting your content to be removed. Such requests will be processed within a maximum period of 24 hours (but usually as short as one hour). You may request deletion and/or mark your content private through our sites' user interfaces, or by contacting ImageShack directly. After your request is processed, ImageShack will cease distribution of your content within a maximum period of 24 hours (but usually as short as one hour) and will absolve itself of any ownership of said content, implied or otherwise.

    ImageShack will not sell or distribute your content to third parties or affiliates without your permission. Third parties may exercise the following options regarding your content:

    Third parties may hyperlink to the page that displays your content on the ImageShack Network without modification and with proper attribution to you.

    Third parties may request permission to use your content by contacting you directly.

    All requests for permission regarding your content usage directed at ImageShack will be forwarded to you. All uploaded content is copyrighted to its respective owners. ImageShack directs full legal responsibility of said content to their respective owners. All content generated by ImageShack is copyrighted by ImageShack. ImageShack is not responsible for any uploaded content, nor is it in affiliation with any entities that may be represented in the uploaded content"

    Twitrpix ToS allow them to do more or less what they want with the content, but only on their site and the agreement terminates as soon as you remove the pic.

    So, it seems that only twitpic, twitgoo and posterous are claiming rights to use the photos outside even after one removes it from service. Please check your facts - twitpic is in a minority here and all such services deserve to be ostracized by the users.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    bastards...

    ... how dare they use my exquisitely crafted photo's of erm, well, stuff!

    My photo of a free lunch

    My photo of a storm in a teacup

    Moving forward, the obvious reaction would be either to:

    a.) Stop using them ... or

    b.) Don't post anything you value

    The important issue here, however, is the photo's you've already got on Twitpic prior to this change of T's&C's - I suppose they also fall under this.

    Whether that can be challenged, is anyones guess.

    Also, what happens when you delete a photo from Twitpic?

    Is is still kept on backup?

    My guess is, it will be - there should be a way to remove photo's and specifically state Twitpic are not allowed to keep a backup or use photo's which are removed.

    So, going forwards, everyone knows what Twitpic are up to, but the question remains, what about everything that was posted prior to this change of direction? - that's the bit which sucks hardest.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Naughty.

    The original "...permission to use or distribute..." seem reasonable and have the sense of loaning use to Twitpic for its purposes. The new conditions lay claim to the pics and are therefore way over the top. The gits need jumping on.

  6. Da Weezil

    Meh

    Domains and hosting are cheap enough, if people want to use these services rather than set up their own spot then they shouldnt be surprised when the small print signs away thier rights.

    Maybe its time we started educating kids that there are no free rides on the net, photo hosting, social networking even chat software comes with some payback for the provider. The question is how much are you prepared to give away?

    1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Pint

      Well yes you can.

      Yes you can set up your own "shop-front" or image gallery but who's going to come by and look at at it? You need to spend even more time drumming up interest and then keep it going. I use DeviantArt as my main gallery for my pics as there is a system in place to allow people to find your stuff without you having to do loads of manual leg work to get interest in your stuff.

      "TwatPic" are scum and an exception, most good quality photo sites state clearly that you retain control and copyright, else most serious artists would never use them.

  7. Anonymous Cowherder
    Go

    The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits, like Auntie Mabel enjoys.

    Everything I have ever posted on twitpic has been nonsense. By posting it on twitter I had already fully accepted that I was putting it out there and it would be reused if someone saw any value in it.

    As long as they RT it and it gets me more follows I have no problem.

  8. StevenBullen
    Thumb Up

    TwitPic Exporter

    TwitPic are a joke!

    I have written a TwitPic Exporter that will make it easy to grab all your pictures from them.

    http://export-twitpic.stevenbullen.com/

  9. Terry Cloth

    Funny no one's mentioned the Nintendo 3DS

    If you're upset by Twitpic, you might need to read Nintendo's Ts&Cs:

    ``By accepting this Agreement or using a Nintendo 3DS System or the Nintendo 3DS Service, you also grant to Nintendo a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display your User Content in whole or in part and to incorporate your User Content in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, including for promotional or marketing purposes.''

    -- Chapter 1, Nintendo 3DS End User License Agreement

    (I find it somewhat scary that the EULA is so long it must be divided into chapters.)

    They also install hardware that allows them to convert your 3DS into a doorstop, if they don't like what you're doing with it:

    http://www.defectivebydesign.org/nintendo

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