Correction, this blog post has a new headline: “Learnings on how quickly the information on the Internet can change and why you should always check your facts before getting on your high horse”.

This morning my favourite news source, TNW, wrote a piece on Twitpic changing their picture ownership policy. This irked me somewhat and got me unusually inspired to write a blog post as something was happening and not the usual two weeks later.

When I checked the TNW post again an hour later, it had been updated/redirected to a new post that reveals that almost all popular photo sharing apps have the same terms, including some of the alternatives I recommend below. It turns out the only one that doesn’t have these terms is Mobypicture, although there is no mention of Posterous’ terms.

So I’ve included the post in the state I had gotten it as a momument to stupidity, much like the Siegfried Line on the French / German border: “General George S. Patton, when asked about the Siegfried Line, reportedly said, "Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity”:

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Disclaimer one: Please do not heed the advice written below, use Mobypicture instead.

Disclaimer two: I still think Instagram is poncy and an insult to the progress of the digital camera.

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Twitpic seem to have not learnt from similar privacy gaffs from the likes of Facebook and the iPhone 4 by re-writing their terms, essentially taking ownership of your Twitpic shared images so that they can sell them on to someone dumb enough to pay for such low quality imagery.

Twitpic, you baffle and frustrate me:

·         Seriously, have you not learnt from Facebook?

·         You’re not Facebook you have lots of decent competitors and therefore cannot afford to be idiotic. Yours is a pretty easy model to duplicate, which is probably why you have lots of competitors.

·         Who’s going to pay for pixellated, blurry pics taken with rubbish iPhone cameras?

·         When you mess with people’s personal property, you can be sure it will be met with resistance and loss of users.

·          I have pictures of my baby nephew on Twitpic, why would you want a piece of that?!

·         And finally taking ownership of people’s private property (especially something as emotive as their pictures) is a massively flawed business model.

So people, please choose an alternative below and start voting with your feet:

Yfrog – seems to be the main alternative to as close a match as you can get to Twitpic. Hope they don’t go the same way!

Posterous – I use Posterous and am a big fan. Once it’s set up it is brilliant simple and flexible to share across many platforms.

Instagram – I don’t have an iThing but I have heard this is great for Mac. Being very Mac, you can add poncy  filters that make your images look like a picture that has been lying in the sun since 1974. What was the point of the digital camera revolution?

PicPlz – If you’re an Android droid like me then check these guys out.

Not satisfied with that list? This dude was much more industrious than me and came up with 7 alternatives to Twitpic a few years ago. Can’t vouch for any of the services he mentions.