Understanding the new Pinterest Terms of Service.

1. Understanding the new
Pinterest Terms of Service
Policy Primer
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinterest-logo.png

2. What is Pinterest?
 A visual bookmarking tool for saving and discovering creative ideas
 They call it: The world’s catalogue of ideas
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb

3. Updating Terms and Privacy Policy
 More than half of Pinterest users are outside the United States (October 2016)
 Pinterest users (aka Pinners) were sent an email stating if they live outside
the USA, their “products and services will be provided by Pinterest Europe
Limited, an Irish company based in Dublin.”
 The email has preview links to the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
 And “If you keep using Pinterest after 1 November 2016, you’re letting us
know that you’re okay with the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy,
and that you’ve read and agreed to both.” That’s implied acceptance.
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb/new-terms-service
https://about.pinterest.com/en/new-privacy-policy

4. How many Pinners ever read the email?
The TOS? The Privacy Policy?
 150 million users on Pinterest each month. Population of Russia is 146 million,
and Mexico 128 million. 80 million Pinners live outside the USA.
 The email open rate benchmark sits at 21.69% for social networks and online
communities. If the email went to all outside the USA, just over 17 million
opened the email.
 Email link click benchmark is 3.44%, meaning under 3 million Pinners (less
than 2% of the total community) might have reached the TOS or Privacy Policy
web pages.
 A study revealed that only 7% of people bothered to “read the online terms
and conditions when signing up for products and services”.
https://blog.pinterest.com/en/150-million-people-finding-ideas-pinterest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population
http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-marketing-benchmarks/
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/may/11/terms-conditions-small-print-big-problems

5. An attrition of informed Pinners!
What on Earth did we agree to? Did we agree?

6. Why we don’t read TOS & Privacy Policy
 They are lengthy, often in small font size, and laden with legal jargon and
“dry, impenetrable prose” that are near impossible to comprehend.
 The current Pinterest Privacy Policy (effective 27 December 2015):
 2,170 words with a readability grade of 11; and 71 of 119 sentences rated hard to
very hard to read. Despite that “Pinterest is not aimed at children under 13”, it is
difficult to imagine teens attempting to comprehend it!
 Nonetheless, we agree to these legally-binding contracts everyday. Right?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/15/i-read-all-the-small-print-on-the-internet
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb/privacy-policy

7. Accepting the TOS & Privacy Policy
Implicit acceptance, low
contrast, minimal affordance
Explicit acceptance, decent
contrast, clear links
http://www.useronboard.com/how-pinterest-onboards-new-users/?slide=17
https://trello.com/signup?returnUrl=%2F

8. But there’s good news for Pinners
At least for those who read the TOS & Privacy Policy after 1st November 2016

9. Terms of Service
Now also in layman's terms

10. Legalese alongside plain language
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb/new-terms-service

11. And some less-good news

12. The legalese is a loose match
You will need to read both sides to fully comprehend the contract.

13. Children are not allowed
Legalese
 Any use or access by anyone under
the age of 13 is prohibited.
Simply put
 You can use Pinterest unless you're
under 13. Become a teenager and
suddenly the world’s catalogue of
ideas is yours!

14. You might see bad content
The TOS warns you could see porn or spam

15. Porn and spam are banned
The legal jargon made no comprehendible
mention of banned content.
It is clear from the plain language side that
porn and spam are forbidden.
You can report objectionable or inappropriate
content and they decide what is and what
isn’t porn and spam before a take down.
You agree that you risk stumbling upon “bad
stuff on user-generated content sites like
Pinterest”.

16. Help describes more bad content
Help > Safety and standard is where the bad content policies are: Copyright FAQ,
Graphic violence, Harassment and cyberbullying, Hate speech, Impersonation,
Nudity, Pinterest Terms of Service, Spam on Pinterest, Suicide and self-harm.
https://help.pinterest.com/en/help-topic/Safety%20and%20standards

17. Posting your content
Pinterest allows you to post content including photos, comments, links and other
materials.

18. Content ownership & responsibility =
yours
 If you post your content on Pinterest, it belongs to you, but this ownership is
only valuable to you for your own purposes. Also, you alone are liable.
 Both Pinterest and other Pinners can do whatever they like with your posts.
You don’t have to be asked for permission, paid, or contacted. Anyone can
copy and change copies of your content. It’s an open slather remix haven.

19. Removing your content
 We reserve the right to remove or
modify User Content for any
reason…
 Pinterest will take down or change
your content if they want to.
 There’s no mention of giving you a
heads-up about it.

20. Keeping your content after deletion
 When you delete your content from Pinterest, you won’t be able to see it on
your boards.
 Copies of your content can remain scattered throughout the community as
long as … well, possibly forever.

21. Your feed is good… too good
Follow 5 boards to fill your feed with pins you love.
http://www.useronboard.com/how-pinterest-onboards-new-users/?slide=72

22. Self curation becomes your filter bubble
 As you follow boards and browse the web, both you and Pinterest are tailoring
the service to your personal tastes. It’s easy to trap ourselves in a "filter
bubble" and miss out on exposure to ideas that could challenge or broaden our
worldview. We end up seeing a very unbalanced subset of impulsive ideas in
our feed.
 For instance, after visiting websites selling camping equipment, you’re likely
to see Pins related to the outdoors and hiking gear.
https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles
https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/personalization-and-data

23. Copyright Policy on Pinterest
Pinterest acts “in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other
applicable copyright laws.”
https://about.pinterest.com/en/copyright

24. Respect copyright
 A separate Copyright Policy
describes: expectations of users to
respect intellectual property; that
Pinterest will disable or terminate
accounts of infringers; and that
Pinterest will respond
expeditiously to claims of
copyright infringement.
 This page provides methods for
filing a copyright complaint, and
describes what to do if you receive
a complaint.
 The plain language version insists
that you respect copyright but
does nothing to explain how to do
that.
 We cannot assume saving Pins
counts as a remix rather than a
breach of copyright, but ambiguity
persists, particularly as the default
behaviour is to save a Pin as
verbatim.
https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity

25. Suing Pinterest over repeat infringement
 Photographer Christopher Boffoli has claimed copyright infringements in
effort to have over 5,000 posts of his photos used without either permission
or attribution.
 Pinterest has failed to “completely remove his content”, “offered Boffoli a
settlement”, but he’s persisting with the lawsuit to fight for artists rights.
http://petapixel.com/2015/05/27/photographer-suing-pinterest-in-federal-court-over-repeated-copyright-infringement/

26. Prevent pinning from your site
Meta tag in the <head>
<meta name = "pinterest"
content = "nopin" description
= "Sorry, you can't save from
my website!" />
Specific “nopin” images
<img src = "foo.jpg" nopin =
"nopin" />
https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/prevent-people-saving-things-pinterest-your-site

27. Copyright FAQ
More helpful for self regulating than the Copyright Policy
https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/copyright-faq

28. “
”
don't pin something without
linking to where you
discovered it
Rules to Pin By (2010)
Attribute to your source
http://web.archive.org/web/20101206081508/http://pinterest.com/about/rules_pin/

29. To pin, or not to pin?
Safe to pin
 Your own content
 From sites bearing a Pinterest
sharing button
 Public domain and Creative
Commons licenced works,
attributing as necessary.
 Pins “Uploaded by user” if you are
certain the uploader is the owner.
Caveats
 Assume you do not have permission
to pin content or repin unless
evidence suggests otherwise.
 When unsure, ask for permission to
use the content.
 Do not pin bad content.
https://turbofuture.com/internet/how-to-use-pinterest-copyright-legally

30. I hope this has been a useful
introduction to Pinterest’s new Terms of
Service.
Happy pinning!

31. References
Bacon, C. (2016, April 30). Pinterest and Copyright: How to Use Pinterest Legally. Retrieved 26 October
2016, from https://turbofuture.com/internet/how-to-use-pinterest-copyright-legally
Hern, A. (2015, June 15). I read all the small print on the internet and it made me want to die. The
Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/15/i-read-all-the-small-
print-on-the-internet
Hulick, S. (2014a, April). How Pinterest Onboards New Users. Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
http://www.useronboard.com/how-pinterest-onboards-new-users/?slide=17
Hulick, S. (2014b, April). How Pinterest Onboards New Users. Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
http://www.useronboard.com/how-pinterest-onboards-new-users/?slide=72
Lessig, L. (2007). Laws that choke creativity. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity
List of countries and dependencies by population. (2016, October 20). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population&oldid=
745379070

32. References
MailChimp. (2016, October 3). Email Marketing Benchmarks. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from
http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-marketing-benchmarks/
Michael Archambault. (2015, May 27). Photographer Suing Pinterest in Federal Court Over Repeated
Copyright Infringement. Retrieved from http://petapixel.com/2015/05/27/photographer-suing-
pinterest-in-federal-court-over-repeated-copyright-infringement/
Pariser, E. (n.d.). Beware online ‘filter bubbles’. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles
Pinterest. (2014). English: Pinterest logo. Retrieved from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinterest-logo.png
Pinterest. (2015, December 27). Privacy Policy. Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb/privacy-policy
Pinterest. (2016). Terms of Service (Effective 1 November 2016). Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
https://about.pinterest.com/en-gb/new-terms-service

33. References
Pinterest. (n.d.-a). Copyright. Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
https://about.pinterest.com/en/copyright
Pinterest. (n.d.-b). Copyright FAQ. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from
https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/copyright-faq
Pinterest. (n.d.-c). Personalization and data. Retrieved 21 October 2016, from
https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/personalization-and-data
Pinterest. (n.d.-d). Prevent people from saving things to Pinterest from your site. Retrieved 26 October
2016, from https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/prevent-people-saving-things-pinterest-your-site
Pinterest. (n.d.-e). Privacy Policy (Effective November 1, 2016). Retrieved 26 October 2016, from
https://about.pinterest.com/en/new-privacy-policy
Pinterest. (n.d.-f). Safety and standards. Retrieved 26 October 2016, from
https://help.pinterest.com/en/help-topic/Safety%20and%20standards

34. References
Pinterest. (n.d.-g). What’s Pinterest? Retrieved 26 October 2016, from https://about.pinterest.com/en-
gb
Silbermann, B. (2016, October 13). 150 million people finding ideas on Pinterest. Retrieved from
https://blog.pinterest.com/en/150-million-people-finding-ideas-pinterest
Smithers, R., & correspondent, consumer affairs. (2011, May 11). Terms and conditions: not reading the
small print can mean big problems. The Guardian. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/may/11/terms-conditions-small-print-big-problems
Terms. (2010, December 6). Retrieved 23 October 2016, from
http://web.archive.org/web/20101206081508/http://pinterest.com/about/rules_pin/
Trello. (n.d.). Create a Trello Account. Retrieved 26 October 2016, from
https://trello.com/signup?returnUrl=%2F