Pinterest has been a hot topic here at CTD- first, I wrote a post about Pinterest and Why Crafters Love It. Then, folks started reading the fine print of the Pinterest Terms of Service and getting alarmed, so Juliann wrote the Perils of Pinterest.Â
Well, it seems that Ben at Pinterest has been listening.
Today I got this e-mail:
Updated Terms of Service
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting.
- Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
- We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
- We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
- Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.
We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.
Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interest. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.
Thanks!
Ben & the Pinterest Team
Hooray! It’s so great to know that Pinterest is hearing our concerns- especially about selling our images- and has responded. I only know of a few people who actually deleted their boards– most of us in the crafting community felt that the sharing of ideas for the return of increased blog traffic was well worth the risk (myself included)- but hopefully this will put the fine artists at ease.
I think it’s hinky that you have to opt OUT of someone pinning your content- you (the website or blog owner) must install an anti-pinning code to keep others from sharing your images. (They are adopting the same model as Google.) And I’m still not in love with Pinterest hijacking my affiliate code without first disclosing that they were monetizing that way- but one step at a time, right?
For some good ideas about how to use Pinterest as a tool to grow your business AND control more of what does and doesn’t get pinned, please read this step-out Instructable by Lynne Bruning. It’s like those after-school specials….”The More You Know,” those PSAs that ran after school when I was a kid. The more we ALL know, the better.
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I’m so glad that Pinterest is addressing some of our (many) concerns. I am most anxious for privacy settings.
Great news! I don’t have a blog nor do I sell the jewelry I make, but I deleted my Pinterest account after reading that they could sell the images because I didn’t want to be party to that kind of copyright infringement. These changes make me feel much better, and I’ll probably join again, now. Thanks for keeping us informed!
I read the articles before and didn’t delete my account but found another site that is similar just for crafters. I’m concerned with the idea that if you pin something that someone else has pinned it may not go back to the source. The correct person may not get the recognition and that can cause conflict. At least that is how I understand it. This concerns me.