1. Pinterest is a social media site where users can save, organize and share images by pinning them to virtual boards. 2. To use Pinterest, users must create an account which involves providing personal information. The site's Terms of Service are not prominently displayed. 3. The Terms of Service outline that user content and information is publicly searchable by default and can be used by advertisers. It also states users are responsible for ensuring they have rights to any pinned content.

1. Danielle Burrows
Policy primer
Net303
Pinterest Terms of Service

2. Pinterest is a social networking site based on the
saving, organising and sharing of images.
The site allows people to bookmark content in the
form of virtual pins. These pins are arranged onto
user created boards.

3. Users can save content such as photos, links and
quotes to their Pinterest boards. Pin content can be
user generated, come from elsewhere online, or be
re-saved from other users’ pins.

4. In order to start pinning, users must create a Pinterest
account. The process involves providing personally
identifiable information (PII) such as name, email
address, age and gender.
Pinterest (2016)

5. By using Pinterest, users are bound to Pinterest’s
Terms of Service. However, these terms are not
bought to the attention of the user as they activate
their account, nor in the general use of the site.
!

6. Users must find the Terms of Service document
manually. The link can be found tucked away in the
footer of a drop down menu. The Privacy documents
are also found here.
(Pinterest, 2016)

7. Unfortunately many people don’t read or fully
understand the Terms of Service to which they are
bound when using Pinterest and other social media
sites (Goettke & Christiana, 2007).
(CollegeDegrees360, 2012)

8. Make sure this isn’t you!
(Agostini, 2007)

9. 2There are two important reasons to read and
understand these terms.

10. 1. Your Privacy
Information that you explicitly provide (profile
information) and implicitly provide (searches, pins,
boards) say a lot about you1..
By default all this information is publicly searchable
using search engines2.
(1 Barbaro & Zetter, 2006; Leaver, Wilson & Balnaves, 2012; Marwick & boyd, 2014).
(2 Pinterest, 2016)

11. Your pins indicate what you are interested in.
Renovating your bedroom? Organising a child’s birthday
party?
Advertisers of products related to these activities can target
you through Pinterest and their partner sites.
Board 1 (Byrd Design, n.d.; Holtum, n.d; Pe, 2011)
Board 2 (Amorim, 2012; Style Me Pretty Living, 2012 ; One Charming Party, 2009)

12. Other information, including activities on other sites you visit,
can also be collected from you by Pinterest and their
partners and advertisers, unless you change your Privacy
Settings.
Changing your settings is as easy as checking the YES
options under your profile settings.
(Pinterest, 2016)

13. 2. Your obligations
As a Pinterest user, you are required to abide by “all
applicable laws”. This includes copyright law.
It is solely your responsibility to ensure content that
you post is allowed to be shared on Pinterest3
(3Pinterest, 2016; Carpenter, 2012).

14. You can safely respect copyright laws by pinning
content:
• that you have created and therefore own the copyright of
• that encourages you to share by providing the Pinterest
“Save” button
• is licensed to share through Creative Commons
Users may also be able to save images using the fair use
defence, however this is subject to interpretation by courts4
(4 Carpenter, 2012)

15. Pinterest is a great tool for creatively organising and
sharing ideas. Use it and have fun!
But remember to read the Terms of Service and
adjust your privacy settings as it is a public platform.
And respect copyright and other laws in regards to
what and how you pin.
(MKHMarketing, 2011)

16. References
Amorim, P. (2012). Sofia’s garden birthday party [Photography]. Retrieved from http://projectnursery.com/projects/sofias-
birthday-party/
Agostini, D. (2007). You! [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhammza/577671123/in/photolist-
T3HuX-4coLvb-actnYN-6ibibz-oSGKqH-eaJscz-ofdZ1W-edSurM-7X7QcT-6qkGEf-nTrHFv-aijgLb-nERoeB-515CdA-5HZuF7-
q1uaho-fDrmYu-7wSDng-8WPKJK-7gEiFJ-dCMc77-KLesD-8giPNk-996uth-8uGc3M-cs1ApL-p3jH3b-c2Sqd3-hU8wSk-
rsLnMB-pYFWrb-qGtdX3-ocV2c9-bZ8qg1-qCenVu-qU1J8L-qRdAYH-rs5i9w-59mwtW-4vvzoB-atJsNM-5ncBbN-
an7Q4V-8eS7er-t5AoqV-82HQhB-b1LJun-nawXQg-byYuup-9XpPK
Barbaro, M., & Zeller, T. (2006, August 9th). A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749. New York Times.
Available: http://w2.eff.org/Privacy/AOL/exhibit_d.pdf
Byrd Design. (n.d.) White lacquered bath vanity with blue mosaic Moroccan tiles [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://
www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=136024
Carpenter, C, C. (2012). Copyright infringement and the second generation of social media websites: Why Pinterest users
should be protected from copyright infringement by the fair use defence. Journal of Internet Law 16, 7.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2131483
CollegeDegrees360. (2012). Confused [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/
83633410@N07/7658298768/in/photolist-cEJMpW-7CGJFm-9RNfho-8NsoM4-bHqWmZ-6SfTnP-oRXw2q-
iNnC16-6SxrbU-99uE4u-ajqkJ2-ribncx-66FZwx-8ZCLTd-aWPt6r-oFpJpp-5KVuV8-p7pEpq-9kTmcG-8eCxbw-6znZE-
qdbaTY-9BRqtf-a3QVMq-riT81c-qqkfu9-eJATqW-5j5jv9-cmYfkU-HPqrV-76x4Rv-eVHE2n-4MThZn-8qNBEC-oQ2GVa-
bcFweZ-fcm8HL-9C6YQc-8z2CNf-5yv4uE-aBrBr1-bpwUiG-8jYEj9-sgtzqg-9stwTg-eezLAe-6kCtAm-398sRb-9Cfehp-74H4RV
Goettke, R., & Christiana, J. (2007). Privacy and Online Social Networking Websites. Computer Science 199r: Special Topics in
Computer Science Computation and Society: Privacy and Technology.
Available: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.92.1380&rep=rep1&type=pdf

17. References
Holtum, M. (n.d.) Outdoor Bali bathroom [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://lorilangille.blogspot.com.au/
search?updated-max=2012-07-23T00:03:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=17&by-
date=false&crlt.pid=camp.DUJF70BfceGN
Leaver, T., Willson, M., & Balnaves, M. (2012). Transparency and the ubiquity of information filtration? Ctrl-Z:
New Media Philosophy, 1(2). Available: http://www.ctrl-z.net.au/journal/?slug=leaver-willson-balnaves-
transparency-and-the-ubiquity-of-information-filtration
MKHMarketing. (2011). The art of Pinterest [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/
mkhmarketing/8469730170/in/photolist-dUrzGw-eaWRTL-kQ5Eeb-irEEys-68BM93-cFf5PA-
doEeNW-68BrQh-hc8cXq-jJz9ka-8Bmxx7-i3Qb58-fLguo2-5WZAzr-bDxVg4-dm9yQZ-e1FY7m-hLr5vN-
hobkFN-f8z3un-ndC5ti-g5aZMe-e1Aj6T-69imYf-gjaKMj-7Bd79K-dsyZG6-dPzsMW-
q8DFpf-5WEGgX-6ZBdcb-dvebxe-cPE8Fu-d3Rco7-6Xzx38-5WY3Jw-jTxrkx-fZ8RS2-dYXQFa-fAJiR1-
ddSc9B-dVhQNy-dgBbuy-e1GFwH-eifdv2-gSXWqj-bqf4nf-chTwsW-bD5Ps2-c5Ykes
One Charming Party. (2009). Tuesday tutorial: Cupcake toppers [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://
onecharmingparty.com/2009/07/07/tuesday-tutorial-cupcake-toppers/
Pe, H. (2011). Bathroom [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://lamaisondannag.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/vivre-
avec-des-enfants-ne-veut-pas.html
Pinterest (2016). Terms of Service. Retrieved from https://about.pinterest.com/en/new-terms-service
Style Me Pretty Living. (2012). A sprinkles party [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.stylemepretty.com/
living/2013/04/12/party-ideas-a-sprinkles-party/