Adobe Faces Backlash Over Spyware-Like Terms of Service Update
Adobe’s new Terms of Service (ToS) grants unlimited access to user projects, sparking outrage among Photoshop and Substance 3D users. The update raises concerns about privacy and data usage for AI training. Learn more about the controversial changes.
- Adobe users are up in arms over the company’s latest Terms of Service (ToS) update, which grants the company unlimited access to their creations, including those under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
- The update has led to widespread suspicion that the company intends to use user-generated content to train its AI models, intensifying the controversy.
Earlier this week, Adobe, well known for developing popular programs like Photoshop and Substance 3D, sparked a controversy with its General Terms of Use amendments. These adjustments now require users to give the company unlimited access to all their materials, including NDA-covered ones, for “content review” and similar purposes. Consequently, this has generated privacy concerns among users who compare these terms with spyware tactics.
The updated Terms of Service (ToS) indicate that the company can access and view user-created content through automated and manual methods using approaches it employs, including machine learning. This move has fueled speculations that Adobe intends to use every user-generated content in training AI models, given its recent focus on generative artificial intelligence. Still, section 4.2 of the Terms of Use straightforwardly gives Adobe a royalty-free and sublicensable license to “use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, translate” its users’ creations; something that many people find extremely disrespectful.
Read more: New Report Blows the Lid on Another iPhone Spyware
However, on top of this misery, users realized that uninstalling Photoshop via Adobe Uninstaller cannot be done without consent from these controversial (ToS) Terms of Services. Further, when one chooses not to have their content analyzed, it does not make a difference since Adobe ignores any preferences and accesses user content in “certain limited circumstances.” Despite the negative public reaction, the company has made no changes to these terms of use or taken any other actions. The minor modifications made in February 2024 imply that Adobe may want to take some time off from making decisions about it, waiting for everything to cool down.
This series of events is reminiscent of Microsoft’s Recall, an AI feature coming to Windows 11 that had a similar backlash. It takes screenshots capturing all user activities, resulting in apps, websites, documents, or emails that can be accessed through a created timeline. In both cases, the issues of user privacy in the AI era and the ethical implications of data usage by tech giants have been raised.
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