Comment by autoexec

1 year ago

Have you checked the privacy policy of your photo lab/printer? It's possible that they're collecting digital copies of your pictures, selling them (or just information about them) to third parties, as well as selling them/turning them over to the police and other government agencies.

Yes, I do. I read the privacy policy of all the websites I sign up for. In fact, that is the exact reason why I never got a Facebook account. When I read their privacy policy when it first came out when I was an undergraduate student, I was horrified and never signed up.

Of course, that doesn't guarantee everything in this deceptive world, but it's the best I can do certainly.

Which ones do those things?

  • It should be your default assumption that any and all data you hand over to a company will be collected, used by that company in any manner that they feel will be beneficial to them, sold/leaked to others, and ultimately used against you.

    At a glace, it appears that the privacy policies of walmart, CVS, and walgreens allow for it. I imagine that's where most people these days take their photos for development and/or printing

    • I worked in a Walgreens photo lab circa 2004. At the time the mini lab kept a scanned copy of all images for at least 90 days. I think it was set to use rolling storage, so the time frame wasn’t definite.

      On another note, the photo techs will be looking at your photos - at least, the good ones will, so they can adjust for color balance and exposure. The really bad ones will too, so they can keep a copy of any “interesting” photos.

      When I worked there, I called the police about once a month, for exactly the reason you might expect.

  • Almost* all of them. At the very least its worth hoarding until an opportunity comes up.

    [*] Reduced from all.

    • Are you suggesting that all photo printing labs secretly keep copies of their clients photos (including professional photographers selling prints worth thousands) and reselling them as their own? I don’t think that any website terms are going to make that okay?

      I understand this in how Instagram and Facebook terms read, that they can sublicense your images, and I’m not a lawyer, but sublicense doesn’t mean resell as their own? It’s still your copyright.

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