Rise and Fall of Privacy

In the US, the right of publicity and the right to privacy are not the same issue; nor are they managed at the same statutory levels; state or federal.

"The right of publicity prevents the unauthorized commercial use of an individual's name, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of one's persona. It gives an individual the exclusive right to license the use of their identity for commercial promotion." --Cornell University, Legal Information Institute

The right to privacy, while inferred in the Constitution, is not explicitly stated and is narrowly defined in Amendments 1, 4 and 5. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) largely enforces the statutory right of privacy; and the increased occurrence of companies and individuals having privacy policies and privacy statements are evidence of the work the FTC has done.

This is a gray area that Facebook, and other corporate or social networks deliberately trespass into again and again. Users have few options to respond in kind; two of which are that you don't sign-up for the service to begin with and in the event that you are an existing user, you can always cancel and delete your account. Is the average user going to lobby for FB (or any other social network provider) to change its policies or hire a lawyer to negotiate a bilateral policy with FB? Doubt it.


Instagram has changed its usage policy to take advantage of its treasure trove of photo content and enable its advertisers and 3rd party partners to use its user content without having to define licensing or copyright protections. This is a usage policy notion that gets lauded by the general public as a social media no-no and generally results in a mass exodus of users (and subsequently, user-generated content).

There are never any right or wrong ways to deliver such a message to an audience; there is only tact and diplomacy. Let's start with the basics. Instagram is a free-to-use photo customization and posting service; it allows users to take photos with any media device, upload them to be manipulated by Instagram's digital sepia process to mimic old Polaroid photos, and share with others (presumably, publicly) within social networks.

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