Facebook and Instagram have spurred an oversharing economy where we willingly post images of ourselves and friends doing everything from eating lunch to running around naked on a private beach.
So it's no wonder why early Flickr employee Heather Champ says she's "horrified" by the state of the current social photo market.
Champ joined Flickr in April 2005, just a couple of months after Yahoo acquired the photo-sharing service. While at Flickr, Champ focused on organizing its policies around abuse and advocacy, and later became the community manager at Flickr.
"Without sounding like I'm about three months from pulling up stakes and heading into to the wild to live off the grid, I'm pretty horrified by the current state of life online when it comes to privacy, community, what we share, our photos, and how our images may be used now, or in the future," Champ recently told Google Director of Product Management Hunter Walk. "I would hope that companies would really take stock of the decisions that they're making and what the long term implications are. Have you seen Black Mirror? I highly recommend the first season."
"Black Mirror" is a British television show that explores our addiction to technology and the long-term implications of our obsession with gadgets.
Our use of technology has vast implications beyond the present day. When we choose to use products and services like Facebook, Instagram, and even Flickr, we end up leaving behind a huge trail of personal information.
When Instagram announced its upcoming changes to its terms of service, public outrage ensued because it seemed like Instagram would start selling your photos and turning them into advertisements. The backlash prompted Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to delete the language about displaying photos in conjunction with advertisements without compensation.
Still, the Instagram situation made us all wonder how big companies will use our images both now and in the future.
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