bummed

Well, we already knew there really was no such thing as a free lunch, but really!!. Someone posted at the DigiChick a warning that PhotoBucket, used by many to host their photos, has recently changed their Terms of Use.

[quote] Before you use this site, please read these Terms of Service carefully as they govern your use of the services provided at Photobucket.com (the "Services"). By using the Services you agree to the Terms of Service set forth below as they may be updated from time to time by Photobucket.com, Inc. ("Photobucket.com"). Photobucket.com may modify or terminate the Services from time to time, for any reason, and without notice, including the right to terminate with or without notice, without liability to you, any other user or any third party, provided that when Photobucket.com does so, it will update these Terms of Service. You are advised to periodically check the website for changes in the Terms of Service.

"User Content" means any videos, photographs, images text, graphics, news articles, charts, presentations, communications photographs, illustrations text, graphics, news articles, charts, presentations or other materials provided by you to Photobucket.com. Photobucket.com does not claim ownership rights in any User Content. In order for Photobucket.com to permit you to use the Services, you grant to Photobucket.com a perpetual, universal, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, license to use, copy, distribute, modify, print, display and otherwise exploit in any manner any User Content and to enable third parties to use the Services to do the same. [end quote]

So, firstly, they can change their policy, and don't have to tell us (paLEEZE, how many people periodically check the TOU at the sites we frequent on the off chance that they have recently changed their policies?) And secondly - the kicker for me - they now claim the right to use MY images in any way they want, and grant others the same right? I did not sign up for that.

So my photo blog is gone. Deleted all the pics from the PhotoBucket account, and deleted the blog. (I did save the blog to Word before I did this, so I have a record for me.) I am still pondering what to do with this blog. Many of the pics posted to this blog are linked here from PhotoBucket. The ability to include pics directly through blogger was introduced after I started, and I was using PhotoBucket to host from the beginning, so I still do that most of the time from habit. It will be a lot of work to transfer photos and alter links in the blog, so I'm not sure where to go with this.

I guess this really revives the issue for me of how much we share on the net, and where it can go. I chose not to make my blog public when I started, so only people who get linked here from Scrapbooking sites or my email sig would actually find this (dunno if I show up on g00gle though). At the end of the day, anyone can swipe a photo or layout file from here, or one of my online scrapping galleries, and use it for themselves - even the low resolution files I post here could be manipulated for net viewing. But I guess I object to having someone else dictate that they may in fact do so. They may not.