The Ugly Truth About Instagram

UPDATE: Why Not to Freak Out About the New Instagram Policy Dec. 18th, 2012

Let me start by saying I am not a lawyer and I wouldn’t know how to think like one even if I tried.

What I am is an honest blogger who is feeling duped.

When I started my Instagram account I was instantly smitten.  Everything about it was wonderful… the ease of uploading and processing my pictures, the convenience of posting my pictures to other forms of social media.

I even wrote posts about it and made a cake in honor of it!

Most of all, I loved looking at other peoples streams.  The talent and content was mind blowing… what people can do with a camera phone is truly awesome!

 

But there is a dark side.

People take images off the internet and repost them on their Instagram accounts.  With no attribution.  Essentially, they are creating their own ‘Pinterest like’ boards through Instagram.

This is a violation of the terms of use by Instagram, as they clearly state here:

You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the Instagram Services or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section, (ii) the posting and use of your Content on or through the Instagram Services does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, intellectual property rights or any other rights of any person, and (iii) the posting of your Content on the Site does not result in a breach of contract between you and a third party. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of Content you post on or through the Instagram Services.

So when I saw my Surprise Inside Heart Cake posted on an account with over 174,000 followers, I was upset.  I left a comment on the picture saying, “This is my picture.  I did not give you permission to post it.  Please remove it from your feed.”

I was ignored.

I reported the picture to Instagram.  See, I read this post and thought they had my back.

I was ignored.

As it stands there are over 24,000 “hearts” on that picture.

There are comments like, “Cool!  How did you do that?” and “Recipe please?”  ”How did you get the surprise inside that cake?”

The people who posted my picture (proprietors) also submitted my picture to various contests and photo galleries.  Never once, anywhere, did they ever credit me or even imply the picture was not theirs.

To this day, the picture is still there and I have never heard one single word from Instagram.

There is another account (around 60k followers) that posted my rainbow pancakes.

I asked the proprietor to remove the image from her feed and she all but laughed in my face.  Some of the comments I got when I asked her to remove the picture:

(from the proprietor herself)

“I got the images from weheartit.com a picture sharing website.  I feel no shame for taking a picture off a website and reposting it, like hundreds of millions of people do.  And that picture is not your picture, unless you uploaded it to weheartit.com yourself, which was your fault because it’s a photo sharing site.  Once you upload it there, you cant get upset when someone else reposts it because that’s the whole idea of the website.”

For the record, I have never uploaded a picture to weheartit.com

“If she (the proprietor)  gets them off google anybody can take them and if she takes it from u it just means u had a good pic…”

“She (the proprietor) doesn’t have to do anything!  She doesn’t know you! What is your problem?  Its not like anyone would just take your pics.  GET A LIFE!  Don’t you have better things to do?  Oh wait, I guess not!”

“Once you put ANY type of media out on the Inernet, it is no longer yours.  Its anyones to use, repost, or “steal”.  And none of those things are any type of actions that are illegal.”

“Dont flip out *** dang!  Those pictures are all over instagram and pinterest.  Stop being a baby.”

“You do know its not copyrighting unless she sells it or takes credit for it, right?  Oh wait, you don’t know.  Its basically like printing off a picture from the internet for a school report.  All your classmates see it, and its not copyrighting.  Thats just the same as Instagram.  Read (the proprietors) bio.  She didn’t claim credit for them.  Get your facts straight.”

Clearly people were not happy I asked for my images to be removed.  I am continually getting harassing comments and being insulted.

(These are just two examples, there are many more ofenders)

So why do I bother?

I work hard on taking pictures and publishing things on my blog.  Taking pictures does not come easy to me and its often a labor of love.  I have invested time and money into every post published.

When I published that picture on my blog, per my disclaimer, I immediately had copyright.  I own my pictures.  I have the right to say if someone can post it or not.  Furthermore, I have legal recourse if someone posts it without my permission.

Except with Instagram.

Because even though their terms of service indicate that you need to own a picture before posting it, there are thousands of accounts that do not follow those terms.  These accounts have huge followings, and are full of images that the proprietor does not own. (see below)

And, in my personal experience, Instagram has not done anything about it.

Under the Proprietary Rights in Content on Instagram section on their legal terms page it states:

Instagram does NOT claim ANY ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) that you post on or through the Instagram Services. By displaying or publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the Instagram Services, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content not shared publicly (“private”) will not be distributed outside the Instagram Services.

So even if someone takes my pictures and distributes them, Instagram is not responsible.

If  you read on further, Instagram also claims your picture as theirs.  They can use your image(s) around the world and owe you nothing.*

They, and all of their users, can use your pictures for whatever they want whenever they want.

And there are no consequences.

*I am not saying I wouldnt be honored to have my pictures deemed worthy enough to distribute.

I could contact an attorney and pursue legal action, but right now that would be out of anger and hurt feelings.  I want to make sure if I pursue this its for the right reasons and would help the greater good.

I also want people to understand that just because they found a picture on google doesn’t make it their property.

I hope that when people post on Instagram that they have either taken the picture themselves or are willing to pay royalties/give credit to the appropriate source.

That they would post with integrity.

Am I asking too much?

*If you are a blogger or have a website, I encourage you to try searching for one of your more popular images on Instagram.

***********

I just received this from Instagram:

Thank you for your email. Stealing photos is against our Community Guidelines (bit.ly/igcg) and we take it seriously. We want photographers to feel confident and safe sharing their work on Instagram.With regards to your case, we saw flags submitted for these images but we could not confirm the original source of the photos. By the time it was flagged, the image seemed to have reached “internet meme” status and had spread to many different accounts and webpages. This is a testament to how much people enjoy your photo, but, unfortunately, it makes reviewing the image for original ownership much more difficult. In the future, we suggest that when you flag an image you 1. include links to the original source of the file in your flag reporting and 2. email us if the image(s) are not removed within 24 hours with links to your original file and links to all of the images on Instagram where you have seen the photo replicated. To locate links to stolen images, we suggest using a web browser version of our site (http://web.stagram.com/n/USERNAME). You can click the “O” in the top right corner of each image which will take you to an Instagram web page for that photo. Then, you can send us the URLs to the Instagram web pages.Finally, we have reviewed the accounts you mention above and taken appropriate action. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do. 
The Instagram Team
Every single account I mentioned was closed.  Now those individuals know that they were doing something wrong and that there ARE consequences for their actions.  We obviously have a long way to go, but I cannot even tell you how much of my faith was restored in the Instagram community!
 Thank you, Instagram, for handling this issue and upholding your terms of use.  And  thank you for providing further information on how to better safeguard ourselves.
And thank YOU for sharing this issue and providing helpful, informative, and sound advise in how we can all better our online communities!
**********
I have since had other pictures posted on peoples accounts without permission.  I followed Instagrams directions and flagged the images with the details they require.  Again, no action was taken.  I then emailed again and requested some advice in how to handle this.  They removed my image from an offending account, (thank you) but left the account open even though every other image was also stolen.
So, as it stands, I believe Instagram has good intentions, but not good execution.  I feel there is much work that needs to be done.

 

 

· 294 Comments

Fathers Day Cake

This cake probably looks pretty silly.

With the weird banner.  And funky stand.

But it just happens to be perfect for a very special daddy in our lives.

See, a few months ago I saw this bowl at a Picket Fence Gals sale in Lindstrom, MN.

It intrigued me!  I wanted to make one, but figured I never would.

But then I got to thinking.  Maybe I could make a cake stand!

So I did!!  This cost around $20 to make and took about thirty minutes.  But for my very handy hubby, its the perfect little added detail.

Speaking of perfect little ‘daddy’ details…

My dear husband can fix anything with a Zip Tie.  I found some mini ties (called cable ties) and tied up the forks.

I bought some plates at the thrift store for .50 and then covered them in duct tape.  What guy doesnt love things covered in duct tape?

Finding these really cool long nails (8inches) gave me an idea… why not a manly cake banner?  So with the addition of duct tape and some blue electrical tape we were in business.

Slice into that bad boy, get your handy dandy pointed mudding trowel and serve up dad some delicious cake.

Or… is it cake?

Well, kinda!  Its another Surprise Inside Cake!  This is a Rice Krispy Cake with a blue #1 inside.  (That looks more like a Z, oh well!) I thought it would be nice to make a cake that the kids could help with… to really get their hands and hearts into.

So while this cake is not the most handsome of cakes, and the banner is wonky, and the washer cake stand might be a tad crooked and the duct tape plates dont wash up that well…

Every perfectly planned little detail really tells dad just how loved he is.

Have a Happy Fathers Day!

· 61 Comments

Shamrock and Mini Heart Cake Tutorial

Here we go folks.  I am again sharing with you a Surprise Inside Cake tutorial.  This time… How to make the Mini Heart Cake and Shamrock Cake !

 

I will be writing out the instructions for the Shamrock Cake, and put the (brief) instructions for the Mini Heart Cake at the end of the post.  They are very, very similar so you should be able to determine how to make the mini-heart cake from these pictures.  However, if you have any questions please just leave it in the comments and I will answer as soon as possible!

 

I used this white cake recipe and divided it into two six inch pans.  Bake cakes then remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Place cakes in freezer for about six hours, or until very firm to the touch.  You do not want a crumbly or soft cake.

Start by making your cake mixture.  You need a golf ball size portion of green and a very small amount of white.

You can either bake an additional white cake to get excess cake (for the cake mixture) or you can level your six inch cakes and use those scraps.  To make the cake mixture take one cup of cake crumbs and add one teaspoon of frosting.  Blend together until you get a play doh like consistency.  Feel free to use more frosting as needed.

Take 1/4 of the green mixture and roll into a ball.

Roll it into a snake.  I use a fondant smoother to roll mine, but you can certainly just roll out a snake with your hands.

You want the snake to be about 12 inches long.

Repeat this four times so you have four snakes all approximately the same length.

Now we are going to shape the petals of the shamrock.  To do this I simply take my finger and press down one side of the snake.

Then take a butter knife (using the dull side) and make a indentation on the wide side.  Roll out a VERY very skinny snake from the white cake mixture and insert it into the indentation you just created.  The white snake will virtually disappear when you cut into the cake but will help provide a little extra stability in the petal of your shamrock.

Do this the three of the snakes.  The final green snake will be the base of your shamrock.  Instead of making an indentation, simply press it a little flatter.  You want to create a three dimensional triangle.

Remove cakes from freezer and center a four inch round cookie cutter on the cake.  Press in about a 1/2 inch.

 

Gently dig out a half inch section of the cake and set aside.  Be careful with it as you will be reusing it.

Pick up the green snake that you are using for the stem of your shamrock.  Gently tuck it into the crevice of the cake.

Now take the extra white cake piece that you just removed and cut off (approximately) 1/4 inch from the exterior circumference.

Nestle it back into the cake.

Do this to other side of cake.  You can use any of the three green snake as they should all be the same.

Now place the next green snake around the cake, matching up pointy end to pointy end.  (indentation side, the side that you have filled with the white snake, out) Place the last green snake around the interior.  Place other cake on top and dont press too hard.

Chill for a couple hours. (or overnight)

 

 

To decorate the exterior:

Cover cake in crumb coat and chill for a little bit. (anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight)

Place a frosting tinted green (I used my favorite buttercream recipe, only I used 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter) in a pastry bag with a coupler set attached.  Put the #32 tip on.

Starting with the bottom of the shamrock, apply gentle pressure to bag near the bottom of the cake.  Slightly move tip from side to side and create a wider base, then move up.

Do this same thing on the right side, only do it twice.  This helps create the two petal shamrock leaf.

Continue around entire cake.  I also put a large shamrock on top of the cake using the same method.

 

 

FOR THE MINI HEART CAKE:

Use a quarter size of red cake mixture and roll into a snake.  Make your red cake snake about 12 inches long.  Pinch down one side to create the bottom point of the heart.  Using the back of a butter knife, create a slight indentation in the top of the heart.

(Using the white filler snake in the above tutorial is optional, I did not use it on my Mini Rose Cake)

Place round cookie cutter in center of cake.  Press slightly.  Insert red heart snake into cake with the pointy side down.

Place other layer cake on top.  Place crumb coat on cake and decorate as you would like!

 

 

TIPS FOR SUCCESS:

Take your time!

Make sure your cake is very chilled prior to cutting into it.  If your cake is room temperature you might squish the shamrock.

If this is your first ever Surprise Inside cake, you might want to try the mini heart first.  I have made over 100 surprise inside cakes and the Shamrock is the most challenging by far.  I really had to be as precise and as intentional as possible.

Have fun with it!  Its just cake.  Even if it doesnt turn out you can still eat it. :)


 

· 67 Comments

Social Media Cake {Giveaway CLOSED}

The winners are:

 

Comment #468 Chelsea

Comment #477 Patti

You have been notified and I hope to hear from you! Congrats ladies!

 

***********

 

Most of my IRL (in real life) friends and family are not big into social media.  I say words like Pinterest or Instagram and they say, “You’re Excused.”

But you, you my dear friends, are a different story.  We probably met through some form of social media.

Which I love.

I thought I would share with you my very favorite ways to communicate of late.

 

Facebook-I was late to start!  I protested.  I refused to be a joiner!  Boy was I silly.  I adore facebook!  When I see a comment or a post I can click over to you page and find out more about you.

Twitter-I have to admit, I am not the best at twitter.  Thinking up witty things to write in 140  is not something I do well.  However, I do like reading other peoples tweets!  And seeing whats trending.  And finding new, fun, brilliant people to follow.

Pinterest-Probably the most revealing of all forms of social media.  Pinterest is truly a glimpse into my soul… everything I love and hold dear.   My friend Amy has written some interesting posts on the use of Pinterest, which has helped me to Be a Socially Conscience Pinner.

Stumble Upon- I have really enjoyed the variety that Stumble Upon brings.  I have met some pretty amazing people through SU!  One of my favorite things is sitting in front of my computer on a quiet Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and just click, click, clicking through stumbles.  Being able to Thumbs Up a friend is an extra added bonus!

Instagram-Oh Instagram, how I love thee.  Let me count the ways… I love your Earlybird and your Toaster and Nashville just to pick a few.  As someone who is wretchedly terrible at fancy photo editing, I love how you simplify it for me!

Want to know what my favorite form of social media is???

(because you know that no post is complete without a surprise inside cake!)

Yay!  I love getting to share Surprise Inside Cakes!

Facebook!  I just LOVE that its interactive and that I can really get to know you better!

(Sorry that ‘f’ is so wonky.  Its hard to get an ‘f’ in a cake!)

So.

Because I want to be able to better connect to all of you, I want to give you something that will help us make that connection.

I WOULD LOVE TO GIVE TWO SPECIAL READERS A NEW KINDLE FIRE!  

Why the new Kindle Fire?  FULL Internet capabilities!  You can surf and chat and tweet to your hearts content!

 

How can you win?  Simply tell me, what is your favorite way to communicate online?

 

For additional entries: (Please leave a separate comment here on blog post, not on facebook.  I cannot accept any facebook entries)

1. ‘Like’ iambaker on facebook.  If you do already just leave that in the comment. (and thanks)

2. Tweet “Sweet! @iambakertweets is giving away TWO Kindle Fires! http://bit.ly/wZuXsg ”

You can enter once a day for the duration of the giveaway.  (That means up to three times the first day and once each remaining day)

This giveaway runs from Feb. 28th through March 5th.

Good luck all!

Amazon and Facebook are in no way affiliated with this giveaway.

Estimated Retail Value of the Kindle Fire is $199.

See official rules here.

 

· 1,849 Comments

Halloween Cake

Er, something. This is my, “Fake it till you can really make it cake.” I was testing out an idea for my book, and whipped up this cake. Its my favorite chocolate cake, covered in milk chocolate (not ganache, just melted chocolate) with chocolate covered donut balls on top. Sprinkled [...] Read more »

· 111 Comments