Salon.com > photos

Snapchat brings the goofy

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Wait -- what? The video-and-pic sharing app Snapchat is suddenly, according to the Financial Times, "in the coveted but risky position of beginning 2013 as the most hyped app in Silicon Valley." How'd that happen?

Sneak attacks like Snapchat's -- the app was launched in September 2011, and exploded in popularity this past fall -- are most likely to happen when the target demographic is younger than the journalistic cohort that covers new technology. Smartphone-equipped high schoolers and college kids are the big Snapchat users, so the rest of us weren't paying much attention until the app blew up.

Or maybe you're just a jaded cynic like me, and responded to seeing the name Snapchat pop up with increasing frequency on Twitter by wondering why the heck the world needed yet another piece of software to help people share digital content. Haven't we shared enough, already?

Yes, probably. But the answer to why Snapchat is worth pondering is a couple of orders of magnitude more profound than I expected. Snapchat is the anti-Panopticon, an indigenous rebellion against the know-it-all, see-it-all, never-forget-anything networked world.

Instagram says your photos won’t end up in ads, after all

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:30:00 +0000

After the hearing the Internet's audible outcry over Instagram's updated terms of service, which technically give Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, the right to sell users' photo for profit without consent, compensation, or notification, Instragram is backpedaling and revising their terms. Lawyers, reporters and rights activists interpreted the vague language to mean that Instagram will sell its users' photos to ad agencies. Yesterday, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom issued a note saying, "This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing." "We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear," he wrote.

Systrom also assuaged fears of users appearing in ads without their consent:

Instagram sells us out!

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The popular digital filter and photo sharing app Instagram might become a lot less popular in a few weeks. The company announced changes to its Privacy and Terms of Service yesterday that are meant to "protect you, and prevent spam and abuse as we grow," which go into effect on Jan. 16. Instead, as the New York Times reported, Instagram's parent company, Facebook, quietly gave itself the right to share and sell its users' photos for profit.

Nestled within the "Rights" sections of Instagram's updated terms, Instagram and Facebook can share or sell photos (to ad agencies, for example) without notifying users or compensating them for it:

"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."