heads up to all you wonderful humans who are on the front side of the camera

wetransfer changed its useage terms


basically. anything anyone puts on to transfer can be used by them for any reason including training AI or sold and you/photog get nothing.
they will have full rights to do as they please.
please make sure your photographers  DO NOT USE wetransfer and delet any data that is on it..


https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and- … d-to-know/

I recently installed nextCloud (https://nextcloud.com/install/) on a server so that I don't have to rely upon the whims of some other company.  Between Dropbox moving things around every other week and WeTransfer trying to make an extra buck on our content, I decided it would be better to build my own system.

The nextCloud software is easy to use...some hosting companies have an installer that will install it automatically for you.  nextCloud also has "apps" that can enable certain features.  After I get some other things ironed out, for example, it has a document signing feature that may be able to replace my current setup for modeling releases and contracts.  Someone has built a RAW image viewer, and a PDF editor, and there is built-in document editing using Libredocs.  I've added all of those.

There is a really great web interface for your nextCloud, and they have excellent mobile apps for your phones and tablets.  It works for me as a complete Dropbox replacement.  I think you can configure it to backup your photos from your iPhone automatically, as well--though I am not using the feature.

The downside are that you will have to manage the whole thing.  You may also come up against server limits if you are hosting a lot of files.  I opted to install it on a slower, shared server hosting account at NameCheap that had unlimited storage (and kept is separate from my website).  It's not blazing fast, but it works and isn't slow, either. The other downside is that if there is a problem, you are your own technical support (although the forums are very active).

FYI--I am not storing my entire RAW library there.  But, you can connect an Amazon "Bucket" from the Amazon Web Services to a folder in nextCloud and actually use it to back up your RAW files. 

The upsides are that the software is open source--so, it's free to use!  You can also provide a branded experience for your clients to download their finished photos, and you can control all of the rules.  And, no AIs will be training on your images. 

I don't work for nextCloud, and to be completely transparent, I built websites for 15 years, but I had the same angst about file sharing and cloud storage.  The services seemed awfully busy at promoting their own interests at the expense of my own...regardless of how much money I paid them each month.  This seemed like a perfect solution--it's good for my brand, good for my privacy, and I don't have to worry about changes to the pricing model or terms and conditions.  It can simply deliver the files to my clients.

Hope that helps!

WOW! Thanks for the warning!
How frigg'n NERVY!

Thanks also for the responding workaround, though I could never make that happen.


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P.S.// However, I've just found that those terms were rescinded – whew!     . . .  AND YET . . .
. . . Any further thoughts on how they may still be seeing private documents, images, etc???

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and- … d-to-know/

https://www.techedt.com/wetransfer-clea … -new-terms

If on Monday the hosting site of your images has all rights to what you currently have uploaded on their site and on Tuesday they then change their mind, whatever images you had hosted by them on Monday was subject to Monday's rules for 24 hours ...

   So everything that you had hosted on their web hosting site on Monday may well have already been monetized by them (I.E.: Your hosted images could have been sold by them to all kinds of third parties and/or used by them for self promotion) within the 24 hours that Monday's rules/terms of use were in effect ...

   In theory, they could flip-flop their rules/terms of use every now and then and effectively monetize every image that was not previously monetized and is still on their web hosting site ...

   This all assumes that they gave you reasonable advance notice of a rule/terms of use change that affects the rights that they have on the images that you currently have on their hosting web site to allow you to remove any images from their hosting web site that you do not want to be subject to the new rules/terms of use that the hosting company is intending to implement ...

Good points perhaps, but I have only used it to effect quick tranfers of images to models, clients, etc., and then remove everything immediately after effecting that purpose. In fact. last time I used it, they time-limited the amount of time the files would be available on the site. Seems safe enough to me, assuming they aren't playing the "ole switcheroo" tactics you outline.

And, given that the rescinded terms were the result of a huge outraged response among their users, I'm guessing there would be a similar rebellion if they were to go back to the short-lived steals they had engaged in doing. They are legally required to give advance notice of any changes to their "Terms of Use". That seems safe enough for the time being, but I'll check the terms before using it in the future.

I love Wetransfer and have been using it for a few years. It is fast and efficient and they don't  censor your content. When you upgrade you get lots of features, like storage of files and the ability to set expiration dates for download links you send to clients. I don't use this feature, but I see now that you can also send a pay to open file if you get set up with a stripe account. I upgraded so I can send files larger than the 2gb free account limit. Whoever receives your file doesn't have to have a wetransfer account to download.

When I was looking at options to be able to send large files I felt like it was the best choice for the money.