Pro photographers are warned off Twitpic

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED CHANGES to the terms and conditions at micro-blogging photo uploader Twitpic have spurred the American Society of Media Photographers to warn professional photographers against using its services.

The terms, which saw individuals' rights to their own photos surrendered led to controversy last week, and this latest warning carries some weight.

The ASMP said that it reviewed the changes in response to comments from its members, weighed and measured them and found them to be lacking. As well as explaining that they are "contrary to the best interest of photographers" the group went further and recommended alternative providers for those looking to jump ship.

"Twitpic's terms of service grant them broad rights to license, sublicense and otherwise use uploaded images, whether for commercial purposes or not and whether compensated or not, without any obligation to pay anything to the content owners," said ASMP general counsel Victor Perlman.

"Further, twitpic imposes a requirement on users that they indemnify and hold harmless twitpic, its officers and employees, against any claims arising out of the use of any content posted on twitpic. In contrast, Mobypicture's terms of service are short, simple and to the point and it is to be commended for its photographer-friendly stance and terms of use."

Whether Mobypicture has just done a bloody nice job on Perlman's holiday snaps we can't say, but the alternative provider garnered additional praise.

"Under those terms, all rights of uploaded content by users remain the property of users and those rights cannot be sold or used in a commercial way by Mobypicture or affiliated third party partners without consent from the user," he noted.

Members are advised to look at the terms and conditions of all web sites, the organisation added, and should ensure that they are not being shorted on their earnings potential. µ