Disturbing news about Pinterest

Considering that we blogged just a couple of weeks ago about Pinterest as the possible "next big thing in social media" it's disturbing to hear that careful users have identified some serious concerns about the service. On February 21st, Technorati published a piece by Carole Ditosti entitled Pinterest Users Need to Read the Fine Print. The article contained some very concerning facts about Pinterest's fine-print user policies. For example, says Ditosi, Pinterest operator's terms of service include the following:

"By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services."

Futhermore, the terms of service allegedly continue on to say "... you represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms."

I must say that now that I'm aware of these terms, I'm loathe to endorse Pinterest as a positive tool for savvy not-for-profits. Read the original Technorati article in full and take a look at this article from last week's Business Insider (entitled Pinterest Might Be Enabling Massive Copyright Theft) as well. Make an informed decision on the service for yourself, but be careful. Until Pinterest modifies their terms of service, it might be wise to stay away.

_{Header image by Nyman Ink. Body image illustration by Kevin Lincoln for the aforementioned Business Insider piece.}