Thanks to the guys over at Photo Focus for pointing this one out. Apparently with the current Terms of Service from Twitter, they have the right to sell/distribute any photo ever posted to Twitter at their discretion. While this may not mean much for most people, for any aspiring or professional photographer this could be a big deal.

Where it comes into play for the average person – say you catch some crazy car crash on your cell phone camera, or a bank robbery in progress, and are able to get pictures of it in progress. To show your friends the amazing event you just witnessed, you post it to your Twitter. Because of your good luck, you are the first person or even ONLY person to get pictures of the event, which news outlets around your area are dying to get their hands on. Twitter can sell your photos to them without consent, or even notifying you.

According to their TOS:

“You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.”

As always, be aware of what you put on the internet. People complain about their privacy being breached via Facebook security leaks, or problems in their code, but it comes down to this. If you do not want people to see something DO NOT PUT IT ON THE INTERNET. It isn’t Facebook, or Twitter’s job to ensure your photos/posts are kept private – this is just an added feature to ensure that users keep coming back to their site to get them more ad revenue. They don’t owe you anything for being a loyal user, they have millions and millions of others.

The full article is HERE, and definitely worth a read.

« »