This week, Adobe provoked client dissatisfaction by imposing updated terms of service. The document forces users to grant the company access to their content in cloud storage. Adobe has responded to public dissatisfaction, assuring that the changes are minor and it does not intend to claim user content as its own.
Updated Terms of Service
The pop-up window with the new terms of service began to appear to users this week, and it cannot simply be closed. Before starting to work with Photoshop and other applications, it is necessary to agree to the terms — without this, it is not even possible to delete the program. The wording of the document alarmed Adobe’s customers, many of whom use the company’s software professionally, editing content belonging to others, and sometimes protected by non-disclosure agreements.
Adobe’s Explanation
Adobe explained the innovation in a publication on the corporate blog. In the section “Access to Your Content”, several words were changed: the company noted that it “may” access user content using “automated or manual methods”. This formulation has been in effect for several months now, and a significant part of it has not changed — the company does not intend to train its generative artificial intelligence model Firefly on user content, as it did before.
Need for Content Access
The provision on access to content was primarily necessary because some graphic editor functions, including Neural Filters, Liquid Mode, and Remove Background, need to interact with the cloud. Furthermore, user-generated content stored in cloud resources can be inspected for illegal materials.
Privacy Concerns and Options
For those who are concerned about their privacy, they are recommended to refuse to transfer materials from the cloud for Adobe’s research and development programs. The corresponding option can be disabled in the account settings.
