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Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

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11–20 of 103 posts

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#11
post #10
post #2

Doesn't that mean they actually start grabbing the photos before really getting permission from the user? Surely they probably got it covered in the Terms, but it still strikes me as playing slightly dirty..

Playing the Devil's advocate (IANOCoder), but perhaps the bulk of the 1s&0s are being uploaded and then decrypted by sending a small string when the user selects "publish"? Probably not.

That would be the responsible way to do it, surely, although they should still mention it in the TOS.

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#12
post #4

Where in the TOS does it allow them to upload photos that the users don't explicitly select?

The user does explicitly either take the photo inside the Instagram app or select it. Note that the final button that published the photo to the user’s stream is labeled Done, not Upload. They don’t just arbitrarily upload photos from the camera roll or from the camera before the user has tapped the camera shutter button.

EDIT: And as others have pointed out, photos are only uploaded after the user has selected a filter and tapped the green check mark, not as soon as they are taken.

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#14
post #10
post #2

Doesn't that mean they actually start grabbing the photos before really getting permission from the user? Surely they probably got it covered in the Terms, but it still strikes me as playing slightly dirty..

Playing the Devil's advocate (IANOCoder), but perhaps the bulk of the 1s&0s are being uploaded and then decrypted by sending a small string when the user selects "publish"? Probably not.

That's a little silly. How is trusting them to correctly implement an encryption scheme terribly different from trusting them to responsibly delete aborted photos in the first place?

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#18
I trust Instagram to not engage in monkey business with my data. Having said that, this is flirting with the path-address-book kind of privacy-related scrutiny. There has to be a way of telling the user at WHAT POINT the data has started uploading. The progress bar of photo uploads has to mean what it shows or else it is a plain and simple deception (even if it's in the name of performance and user experience). I can't tell if this will erode trust though but don't be surprised if a few make a loud noise about it.

Privacy concern and trust form a chicken-egg problem. I wish the Stanford-esque brains behind these tech companies had a better grasp on it.

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#19

Does anyone know what the sign up slide is about ( http://speakerdeck.com/u/mikeyk/p/secrets-to-lightning-fast-... )? Do they create a user account when you hit the form, then fill it in with your details asynchronously later?

I think they're preloading the 'suggested' photos and data.

Re: Why Instagram is so fast at uploading photos

#20
post #12
post #4

Where in the TOS does it allow them to upload photos that the users don't explicitly select?

The user does explicitly either take the photo inside the Instagram app or select it. Note that the final button that published the photo to the user’s stream is labeled Done, not Upload. They don’t just arbitrarily upload photos from the camera roll or from the camera before the user has tapped the camera shutter button. EDIT: And as others have pointed out, photos are only uploaded after the user has selected a fil…

On the Android version it says Upload instead of Done. I can't tell what point it starts uploading but it seems to appear pretty quick on my page.
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