Instagram web profile causes concern

2012-11-08 14:04

Instragram has changed the way users interact with images on the web. (Duncan Alfreds, News24)

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town - Instagram's partnership with Facebook that allows online profiles may be a breach of privacy regulations as the default setting appears to be open.

Instagram announced on Monday that pictures taken with the application popular on smartphone would have online profiles, but some users have expressed reservations that the profiles allow anyone to view the images.

Even users who thought that their photo images were set to private on the Instagram app may find that if a username is known, the entire archive may be accessed online.

Users told News24 that there was no notification that the web profiles would be open by default, potentially exposing personal images to an unintended audience.

According to Gizmodo and Mashable, you have to change the settings tab in the application back to private to prevent strangers from viewing your images collection on the web.

Many users, though, may be unaware that images they thought were private, can now be shared by others online.

A cursory News24 investigation revealed several images of young children on the Instagram platform that could be viewed.

The private setting will only allow logged in users who follow you to view your online profile, but the fact that the setting was disabled by default may leave some wondering whether it was deliberate.

Facebook recently acquired Instagram for $715m and the massive social network has often been at the centre of controversy with regard to its privacy settings.


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