Online Photo Copyrights

Who owns the photos you upload to online services?

Recently there was large reaction on Twitter after it was discovered that popular photo sharing services like Twitpic which many use to upload their own personal photos to share online, were forbidding users from selling or distributing their own pictures. Twitpic is not the only site doing this and other photo services are also exercising wide controls over pictures uploaded by users including the right to use or distribute pictures without consent. Given that the attraction of such sites is based on the notion of storing and sharing one’s own photos with friends or networks is it a misrepresentation to claim ownership of the pictures by these sites? Is it even sneaker to do it through clauses buried deep in the terms and conditions of the site? Terms and conditions seldom read by most users. Further, as the site Huffpost Tech points out in its article, Twitpic, Flickr And Other Photo-Sharing Sites Can Sell Your Images If They Want:

“While some users may not mind if the photo-sharing services they use are reproducing their images or selling them for a profit, it's likely more will care that some services retain copyrights to their pictures. Having the copyright to these pictures means that the sites have an exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license the images for their own profit. As several of these sites -- Instagram, in addition to Twitpic -- have changed their Terms of Service in response to user anger, it's completely possible that others, too, are willing to bend …”

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