I'm closely following the whole Instagram terms of service discussion. I will be watching closely and if Instagram follows through with implementing these TOS changes, I will migrate my photos and close my account.
As with other discussions around the viability of depending upon cloud platforms and building apps and businesses on top of APIs--I am always amazed at how many folks defend this behavior.
Whether its Instagram changing their terms of use in favor of its advertising strategy or Twitter shutting off access to developers in favor of its own monetization strategy--they are just short-sighted, unimaginative attempts to make money and meet the demand their investors.
What I find interesting, is how many people step up to defend Instagram or Twitter in these online battles. How many of the stories are about how silly users are to use cloud services, and how stupid developers are to build apps and businesses on top of web APIs.
When in reality we should be shaming companies that have practices that exploit users or developers. There are plenty of positive examples of terms of use that protect users and API strategies that empower developers.
Let’s not support the stories Silicon Valley tells to protects its own, but tell stories that make sure that all cloud services consider their users interests and privacy in all aspects of operations, and all APIs are developer centric in all technical, business and legal aspects of operating their platform.
