Beware the Amazon Gift Card Upload..
This photograph was taken just outside Geysir, in Iceland. I’m not sure if the town gives its name to the jets of hot water and steam that burst forth from the ground at regular intervals or not. Needless to say such things are to be found here. This was one of those places we didn’t beat the tour buses to so were happy to drive through and enjoy the steaming streams and plumes of steam rising from various point in the ground from afar..
70mm ff/11 1/80 sec. ISO-100
The main point of this post is to highlight an issue I came across this afternoon that I felt really needed to be shared. It’s Christmas time and our thoughts turn to relatives that we may or may not be seeing over the Christmas period. Perhaps a gift card is the answer to your gift buying nightmare. Faced with this dilemma we might then turn to a company like Amazon and note that they kindly provide us with the option to upload an image from our computers to decorate the gift card we intend to send.
This was the case I faced this afternoon. I uploaded my image and as with all things, I had to agree to Amazon’s terms and conditions. Having a good idea about the way these corporations operate now I thought I better read said terms and conditions before I agreed to them. I was extremely disappointed but not at all surprised really to see that by uploading an image to Amazon you
hereby grant to Amazon, its Affiliates and sublicencees a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, right and licence to (a) reproduce, distribute, transmit, publicly perform and publicly display the Materials, in whole or in part, in any manner and Media, (b) modify, adapt, translate and create derivative works from the Materials, in whole or in part, in any manner and Media, and (c) sublicense the foregoing rights, in whole or in part, to any third party, with or without a fee.
and
grant to Amazon, its Affiliates and sublicencees a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, right and licence to use all trademarks, trade names, and the names and likenesses of any individuals that appear in the Materials.
Always worth checking the small print. I’ll certainly not be uploading any of my photographs. Why would Amazon assume to take ownership? Because they can is the answer I guess. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions. I’ve heard a lot about Amazon lately that makes me less and less inclined to warm to them as a business, not least their very successful tax avoidance strategies and the way they treat their staff. It seems they’re not above ripping off their customer’s artwork either.
Cornwall Photographic 