Robert Siciliano, a McAfee identity-theft expert, discusses Instagram's policy change allowing the company to sell users' photos and names for ads without payment. He advises removing content before the January 16th deadline if you don't want your images used commercially.
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Carol and Gene, thank you. This morning, Instagram fans are revolting. There's a big change by the Facebook-owned photo social network. Instagram will let companies use your pictures, your name, and other information for their ads without giving you any compensation. So is there any way to protect your online security from these changes? Here to help us out, Robert Siciliano, identity theft expert and McAfee consultant. Robert, good morning.
Good morning to you.
Couple items to get here, but let's start out with why Instagram is making this move.
Well, I think they see an opportunity. Uh, they could be the very first publicly, uh, photo-sharing site that, um, uh, the owners get paid for. And I think they see that, uh, the public may be willing, uh, in some cases to do that.
So basically, when you put a photo on Instagram, is it technically no longer yours? Does it belong to them based on the privacy changes?
Based on the privacy changes, after January 16th, Basically, they are saying that your photos can be used for any commercial purpose. Essentially, that means advertising, sales, marketing, any way in which they deem fit.
And these can be sold if they want to anywhere across the— in the world, essentially.
The way the legalese reads, that they can do anything with it, they can profit from it, and they don't have to pay you.
So legally, what type of reaction is there of privacy and security concerns that come from something like this?
Well, Instagram has covered themselves in their legalese. They basically have shielded themselves from any class action lawsuits. And the public will be at a loss if they decide to revolt against it.
A lot of parents out there with kids that use Instagram. How can parents know if their kids' pictures are going to be passed around?
They're not going to know until they see an advertisement or— are notified by other friends or family. That being said, it's a buyer beware type of situation.
We saw with Facebook the change coming out today. Every name on there is going to be searchable, so there's tens of millions of people that are on Facebook that didn't want their name searched on there. Now there's no way of blocking that. So is there a way of blocking your pictures from being shared on Instagram based on the settings that you can set?
After February— after January 16th, no. And what they're saying is, is if you don't want your information shared in any way, shape, or form, then you basically need to take down or delete your site before January 16th. Otherwise, after that, your content, your photos, are going to be owned by Instagram and can be used for commercial purposes.
So how likely is it though that someone that uploads a photo on Instagram, that particular photo is going to be taken and then spread worldwide, and the next thing you know your face is gonna be on some advertisement?
Well, being that there are millions and millions of photos being uploaded, uh, chances are small. But the question is, do you wanna risk that, or is it even a risk? Uh, some people will begin to upload photos in droves because they want their information shared, and others, concerned for their privacy, won't.
All right, Robert Siciliano on the updates on Instagram this morning. We certainly appreciate your time and perspective.
