Pictures on private accounts aren’t as secure as they seem…
Instagram users with accounts set to private believed that all images shared on their platform were private.
If a user uploaded an image to the picture sharing site when initially having their account set to public and later changed their privacy setting, the photograph remained accessible for viewing.
Website Quartz carried out tests and discovered the loophole. Using instagram.com, people could view photographs by copying the link of an image.
“If you choose to share a specific piece of content from your account publicly, that link remains public but the account itself is still private,” an Instagram spokesperson explained.
After acknowledging the bug to Quartz, Instagram rectified the loophole over the weekend and fixed the default setting on the app.
“In response to feedback, we made an update so that if people change their profile from public to private, web links that are not shared on other services are only viewable to their followers on Instagram.”
Quartz believed that the Instagram loophole “is an example of the sort of complexity that ordinary users are required to navigate if they aim to control the online availability of personal information such as photos.”
“It highlights how internet companies such as Instagram arguably under-communicate to users the nuances of privacy settings as those controls increase in complexity”.
Image via Quartz
