Warning: image hosting sites - read the T&C

[leif_goodwin8]

Many of you will use a web site to host your pictures because you

don't have storage at home, or perhaps because it provides a backup in

case of a disk crash, a fire or whatever. Well when you register with

any web site, please READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Here's why. There

is a UK web site that provides free image hosting services. I suspect

that many people will not fully read the terms and conditions which

give them shared copyright of YOUR images, and the right to sell your

images without payment of any kind. What's more, once uploaded, you

cannot delete your images. Worse, if at any future date they decide to

change the T&C, and for example remove your copyright, they can. In

other words, you could end up not having the right to use your own

images. Here are the T&C:

 

"By uploading images and messages and other material to the system you

warrant that you are the copyright owner and that you grant [snip]

permanent copyright ownership equal to your own for all materials

uploaded. This includes a permanent right for [snip] and its

associated systems and companies to make use of them in any way they

see fit, including but not limited to use in advertising and

promotional material. This means you can continue to do as you

please with your photos and other materials uploaded but by adding

these items to the [snip] collection/system you are granting [snip]the

right to also do as it pleases with them. This User Agreement/rules

may be updated from time to time and you agree to be bound by the

current version at all times. To check for the latest version log out

of the system and then use the Register button to view this page. You

may of course cease using the system at any time if you so wish, this

does not of course affect material already uploaded. There is no user

option to delete or remove photographs from the system once uploaded.

The system operates on an 'as is' basis and no warranties or

guarantees of any sort are given or implied."

 

In case you are interested, the site is called UK Expert, though I

suspect they are not the only one, so my warning applies to all sites.

You might think that the user agreement is acceptable, but I would not

touch such a site with a bargepole. If my pictures are worth saving,

then I'm not going to give them away to a stranger. I would also

question the legality of such a wide ranging user agreement.

[steve_unsworth1]

I recently took some photographs on a National Trust property. When I read the full terms of the photo permit I saw that I was assigning worldwide copyright to the NT. Not impressed.

[bwcombs]

If a site offers free web hosting, then there has to be a catch in

order for them to profit some way. In other words, they must have

the ability to resell your images.

 

Sites, like Kodak Gallery, Costco or such, that offer photo sharing

and prints, have to have a clause in their Terms that more or

less states that they have a temporary rights usage of your

image or images. This is necessary for them to legally take your

image and output it as ordered by you or another customer.

 

A typical clause might say:

 

XYZ Company does not claim ownership rights in any image

contained in your account. For the sole purpose of enabling us to

display your images through the Service and fulfilling any orders

for you or those you have shared your images with, you grant to

XYZ Company a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy,

distribute, and display those images. Please note that when you

share images, you allow the recipients to share and make

photographic prints from those images.

 

BUT, those entities must allow you the ability to delete and

exclude images at will. (You said that the UK site does not).

 

A site that does not allow that is evil, if not illegal. But in the world

of cyberspace, I don't know what actions you can take to combat

it, other than use common sense.

 

And as you said, read the fine print. Plus, if it sounds too good to

be true, it usually is.

[chris_leck]

I have heard that Walmart also claims permanent shared copyright on any images that you upload to their site -- even if only for having prints made. I have not verified this, as I would never patronize Walmart anyhow (for any reason).

[peufeu]

Damn, these guys are so shameless. I could put a sign in front of my house "If you park your car here, it's no longer yours, it's mine".

 

Nothing beats a 1 Euro/year (!) 20-meg account if you just want to put a few pics online.

 

http://www.ovh.com/en/mutualise/gp/20gp.html

[dai_hunter]

Leif... that one looks like a good candidate for a complaint to the [uK] OFT on the basis that it is an "unfair term or condition" as the define it.

 

Businesses dealing with consumers are allowed some protection of their commercial interest (e.g. a permitted use agreement in this case) but not beyond, or in a way, that would diminish the consumer's statutory or common law rights. Copyright is a statutory right of any "consumer" using their service that is significantly diminished by those T&Cs, ESPECIALLY, as the copyright splitting is NOT individually negotiated with each user of the website.

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/business/running+a+business/utccr.htm

 

A WORD OF SPECIAL CAUTION - if the photographer is a factual business and posts images there, the unfair terms rules MAY NOT APPLY because it MIGHT be considered a business-to-business transaction which are exempt from the OFT rules.

 

Hunter

[steve_dunn2]

<p>As someone else pointed out, you also need to check the T&C carefully on online printing sites. I've seen more than one (and I'm talking major companies with longstanding bricks-and-mortar stores, not fly-by-night el cheapo dot-coms you've never heard of) which claim permanent, irrevocable rights, including in one case to make and publish derivative works, with no right to any compensation to you.</p>