Imgur

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Imgur is a free emerging media photo-sharing website used to share pictures with friends and also for posting images on message boards and blogs. It was founded and launched by Alan Schaaf in February of 2009. Imgur provides an anonymous uploading feature similar to Reddit and Digg. The only stored information from uploading anonymously is the user's IP address for legal reasons. Users are also provided with the opportunity to request the removal of copyrighted material, harassment, spam, gore, pornography, or anything that resembles pornography. The unofficial mascot for Imgur is the imguraffe, which is a portmanteau of the words "Imgur" and "giraffe."

Imgur, a simple image sharer.

History

Imgur was launched on February 23, 2009 by Alan Schaaf, an undergraduate student from Ohio University. Because he was unimpressed by Reddit, Schaaf created Imgur, giving it a simple interface with unique image uploading and editing characteristics to counter "bloated, confusing and annoying" interface designs on other file-sharing websites.

Imgur is used to share jokes, ideas, and images. Many websites, such as Reddit, use Imgur as their primary image hosting website, giving Imgur the wide recognition among the Reddit users as the standard image sharing site. Imgur has also overtaken other hosting sites, such as Tinypic, and variety of other social networking sites

Usage and Statistics

Imgur currently has an average of 15,000 views per hour, with an average of over 360,000 images uploaded per day.

Traffic statistics (taken on 16 September 2012)

#	Per day	Per week	Per month
Images uploaded	773,244	4,965,114	23,343,059
Image views	978,466,914	6,469,541,225	36,221,749,871
Average image size	208.18 KB	199.15 KB	204.99 KB
Bandwidth used	119.63 TB	879.25 TB	4.39 PB

News

It has been reported that Irish arm of telecom has begun to censor Imgur along with other social networking sites like Reddit because of a lack of accountability and transparency. A three strikes policy, where only a simple accusation would be required to give a strike, has been implemented.

Many websites and message boards prohibit the use of Imgur links due to their allegiance to other image hosting/sharing websites. These prohibitions are not usually due to the content that is displayed on Imgur, as most offensive images are removed.

Ethical Implications

Strike Policy

The strike policy on Imgur also contains ethical implications. Users are issued strikes for any accusations against them, whether the image posted is inappropriate or not. This allows users to accuse others simply for the sake of griefing.

Copyright

Copyright issues are another ethical concern, as there is the potential for copyrighted material to be uploaded by unauthorized parties. Although the website has policies and technology to help remove copyrighted materials, with over 360,000 images uploaded daily, it is easy for some copyrighted material to slip through the cracks. Contributing to this problem is the fact that many images found on Imgur can also be found elsewhere on the web without giving proper credit. Imgur requests that users not upload pictures that they know are copyrighted; however this policy is widely abused as people often share images and pictures on the internet that are not their own. Imgur does explicitly state what violations of Intellectual Property are and guidelines on claimed copyright infringement.

Anonymity

Because Imgur allows users to contribute images anonymously, users feel a heightened sense of freedom and comfort, which can lead to the uploading inappropriate images.

Privacy

Privacy can also be an ethical concern, since images uploaded to Imgur can be shared. It is stated under the site's Terms of Service that "you can upload images anonymously and share them online with only the people you choose to share them with. If you make them publicly available, they may be featured in the gallery. This means that if you upload an image to share with your friend, only your friend will be able to access it online. However, if you share an image with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, etc, then it may end up in the gallery."

References

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