Los Angeles high school student Caleb Benn has
developed an app called Uploader for Instagram,
which is exactly what it sounds like. It allows users
to upload photos to Instagram directly from their
computer instead of solely from their phone, which
has long been a frustration.
It took Benn a weekend to build and it has been on
the Apple app store for a couple weeks, where it's
growing in popularity. He said it's making him
$1,000 a day. (The app costs $4.99.)
Instagram isn't a fan.
An engineer for the company sent Benn an email on
Friday, saying the app violated the company's
terms of service and he needed to fix the app by
Monday to get it in line.
It's Tuesday, and Benn hasn't fixed anything,
mostly because "fixing it" would render the app
useless. He said he responded to the company but
hasn't heard back.
Instagram declined to comment for this article.
Related: Instagram adds app just for collages
"I believe it's entirely legal for my app to perform
these actions," Benn said.
Technology attorney Mark Grossman, of law firm
Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt,
disagrees. (He is not affliated with Benn or
Instagram.)
"He's wrong," Grossman said.
Instagram, owned by Facebook ( , Tech30 ), has
restrictions against using its private API, which
Benn's app uses.
Benn admitted he got access to the API by hacking
Instagram. "But not to cause damage or anything,"
he said.
Chris Messina , a Silicon Valley technologist (and,
incidentally, the inventor of Twitter's hashtag ),
posted about Benn's app on Product Hunt , a
platform where users review and discuss new
technology. Many commenters predicted Benn's
app will be shut down.
Messina told CNNMoney the problem is that
accessing the API "opens up possibilities for all
kinds of abuse, from spambots or people uploading
stuff from other channels."
Plus, Messina said, if Instagram wanted users to
post from a computer, it would make that possible.
"Instagram, from a product perspective, is intended
to be about capturing the moment using your
phone's camera," he said. Start enabling computers
to upload content, and it could take away the
platform's aesthetic and tone.
"That erodes the user experience," he said.
Related: New app offers free trading. Millennials
jump in
We downloaded Benn's app at CNNMoney, and
while it does work as promised, it's not terribly
user friendly. Applying filters is not nearly as easy
as using the iPhone app (and the window that pops
up is tiny). Benn said he's received similar
feedback, and is working to improve it.
If Instagram does want people to stop downloading
his app, it could feasibly ask the Apple app store to
stop carrying it. But Benn said that won't affect
existing users. (Apple did not immediately return
request for comment.)
Grossman said he'd counsel Instagram to block
Benn and his technology quietly, since it doesn't
look great for a big company to chase a 17-year-
old with scary legal letters. Best-case scenerio,
Grossman said, is that Benn shuts down the app on
his own.
"I'm just giving you the grown-up lawyer answer
instead of what's cool and what will fly on Twitter,"
he said.
Benn said he's not ready to take down the app yet.
"I'm just going to wait and see," he said.
In the meantime, the money he's making from the
app is going to his college fund. He's planning to
study computer science.[/quote]
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3022422/Instagram-battles-17-year-old-hacker-Popular-service-uploads-app-s-snaps-PC-shut-down.html