Sometimes we get asked if one of our applications needs any special permission in order to create a Mosaic. The short answer is NO, the long answer, however, you can find below:
LONG ANSWER:
The photos and information used in a Metablock's Mosaic is public information and does NOT require special approval by the user. The Mosaic application works in one of two modes. Twitter only or Twitter and Facebook. In the Twitter Only mode, we pull in public information based on a public Twitter API search on a hashtag. In the second mode, in additional to public Twitter information, we pull in public Facebook information - we only use the Facebook authentication to identify WHO the user is, but the information we pull in (their public profile photo) is publicly available (see below) and doesn't require any permission to use or display.
By using Twitter or Facebook, users agree that a lot of their information is public and publicly available. They do so by agreeing to there terms of service of either service when they sign up.
End User TOS Agreements
By signing up for Twitter or Facebook, users agree to make some of their information public. Since we get our information directly from Twitter or Facebook, only public information that users have given permission to Twitter and Facebook to share publicly through their public APIs is ever displayed.
Tweets, Following, Lists and other Public Information: Our Services are primarily designed to help you share information with the world. Most of the information you provide us is information you are asking us to make public. This includes not only the messages you Tweet and the metadata provided with Tweets, such as when you Tweeted, but also the lists you create, the people you follow, the Tweets you mark as favorites or Retweet, and many other bits of information that result from your use of the Services. Our default is almost always to make the information you provide public for as long as you do not delete it from Twitter, but we generally give you settings to make the information more private if you want. Your public information is broadly and instantly disseminated.
Facebook Terms of Service
When a user creates a Facebook account and populates it with information (name, profile picture) they are giving everyone (see Section 2.4 of the Facebook Terms of Service below), permission to access and use that information.
2.4: When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).
Developer Agreements
Both Twitter and Facebook then turn around and give developers (such as Metablocks and in turn our clients) and the general public at large permission to use information on their social network broadly as part of their developer agreements.
Twitter
As third party developers, Twitter and Facebook both then gives us permission to use your public information broadly. So for example, by using Twitter and providing public information to Twitter, a user agrees and understands that information can be used by third parties as specified in the Twitter Developer rules.
Twitter Developer Rules of the Road
I.2: You may use the Twitter API and Twitter Content in connection with the products or services you provide (your "Service") to search, display, analyze, retrieve, view, and submit information to or on Twitter.
Facebook
According to the Facebook Platform Policy (II.5), when users connect to the application, they are giving us the right to use their basic account information (By "basic account information" we mean: name, email, gender, birthday, current city, and profile picture URL), so NO special or additional permission is needed or required by your Mosaic application.
II.5: Subject to certain restrictions, including on use and transfer, users give you their basic account information when they connect with your application. For all other data obtained through use of the Facebook API, you must obtain explicit consent from the user who provided the data to us before using it for any purpose other than displaying it back to the user on your application.