RIP Photobucket.

[V_R]

Since 2003, the popular photo hosting service Photobucket has been letting users upload and host images for free on their servers. They have over 10 billion images stored by 100 million registered users. But now they’re going to start charging, and that means billions of images around the Web are now broken.

Hotlinking (AKA inline linking) is when someone takes an image file hosted on a server and embeds it on a different webpage elsewhere. Since the new webpage continuously requests the file from the original source server, it saps the server owner’s bandwidth (and storage space).

Photobucket allowed hotlinking photos uploaded to and stored on its servers for a long time. This was their business model, and they made money from ads on their own site, which users would be exposed to when they went to upload content.

Unfortunately for Photobucket users, things are about to change in a big way as of June 26th. Now the service is rolling out a $399 per year subscription fee for those who want to hotlink images from Photobucket’s servers to display elsewhere. That means that billions of images across the Web now display an error message instead of the image in question.

https://petapixel.com/2017/07/01/photobucket-just-broke-billions-photos-embedded-web/

Amazon and eBay images broken by Photobucket's 'ransom demand'

Thousands of images promoting goods sold on Amazon and other shopping sites have been removed after a photo-sharing service changed its terms.

Ebay and Etsy have also been affected, in addition to many forums and blogs.

The problem has been caused by Photobucket introducing a charge for allowing images hosted on its platform to be embedded into third-party sites.

The company caught many of its members unaware with the change, prompting some to accuse it of holding them to ransom.

Denver-based Photobucket is now seeking a $399 (£309) annual fee from those who wish to continue using it for "third-party hosting" and is facing a social media backlash as a consequence.

The BBC received an automated response when it tried to contact the company and is still seeking comment.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40492668


Oh dear.
Ingur anyone?

 

[nivrip]

Not bothered. Never used it.

 

[Ian]

Sadly, I can completely understand having a hotlink policy, as it'll be so, so expensive for them to provide free hosting. However, Photobucket marketed themselves a place without a hotlink policy, which was why they were so popular .

I think there will be some element of compromise or backtracking in the future.... $399 is a disproportionate fee for casual users.

I've seen a ton of hotlink ransom images on the web already!

 

[Urmas]

ImageShack 2.0.

But... $399? Per annum? Everone's a bleedin' comedian these days.

 

[floppybootstomp]

This is why I don't do Cloud. Nothing's permanent.

I've never used Photobucket, I'm glad to say.

Somebody should compile a list of computer disasters.. I can think of 'Games For Windows' yep, real good idea that one eh Microsoft? And I bought this video card once, the manufacturers name escapes me, they offered a five year guarantee. Two years after purchase they went bust...

 

[muckshifter]

I'm still using DVDs I bought 5 years ago, or was it 10yrs?

 

[Lotta Lumina]

I just use PI.GY to upload images and embed them on forums, doesn't need an account and is just simple image hosting as it should be. ^^

 

[Abarbarian]

I just use PI.GY to upload images and embed them on forums, doesn't need an account and is just simple image hosting as it should be. ^^

I gave the pi.gy a go and it is pretty fast in operation. Personally I would not use it for personal picture hosting but I guess it will be useful for posting throwaways.
Just a tad suspicious as the site gives no information as to who owns the site or who hosts it or anything at all really. It does give some basic details as to how maximum file size etc.



I used it to post this pic,