Adobe called out on new terms of service allowing use of customer content

[Citysnaps]

This is concerning:

Adobe to update vague AI terms after users threaten to cancel subscriptions

Adobe scrambles to earn back user trust by updating terms next week.

arstechnica.com

"Users got upset last week when an Adobe pop-up informed them of updates to terms of use that seemed to give Adobe broad permissions to access user content, take ownership of that content, or train AI on that content. The pop-up forced users to agree to these terms to access Adobe apps, disrupting access to creatives' projects unless they immediately accepted them."


The above story caught my attention using Adobe Lightroom multiple times a week processing photos. I don't recall seeing the pop-up mentioned in the article. That would give me pause if what the story claims is true. Hopefully the new terms of service will address the concerns people are apparently having in a positive manner.

 

[Herdfan]

"Users got upset last week when an Adobe pop-up informed them of updates to terms of use that seemed to give Adobe broad permissions to access user content, take ownership of that content, or train AI on that content. The pop-up forced users to agree to these terms to access Adobe apps, disrupting access to creatives' projects unless they immediately accepted them."

There was quite the freak out at my daughter's work when this hit. Of course, they are a Creative/Branding/PR/Advertising firm so they had reason to be freaking out. She was on PTO so she was just getting snippets from a couple of co-workers. Need to ask her how things went this week.

 

[Clix Pix]

I've seen posts in several photography-related sites and forums, with first the original version of the new TOS, and the uproar over that, then Adobe's rush to put out the fires with a quick explanation and an attempt to defuse customers' anger, followed by a later statement by Adobe clarifying further points. In some sites a few Adobe fans and apologists jumped in to defend Adobe's actions, but yes, many creatives, especially professionals who actually earn their living by their art/photography/graphics, etc., and who deal with paying customers, NDAs and such every day, understandably are concerned. Probably all users of Adobe products should take the time to read and scrutinize the TOS wording very carefully. It is only good business, not to mention common sense, to carefully review the pros and cons of Adobe's latest version of their TOS and to think about how it could affect their business.

 

[Herdfan]

But is there really another option? Don't they kind of have the industry by the ?

 

[Citysnaps]

But is there really another option? Don't they kind of have the industry by the ?

Adobe Lightroom is the only option for me.

If they will not commit to my images on my computer being my property, and not available for use by Adobe and/or others they designate, then I'll drop Adobe. And come up with a Plan B.

If that should happen, I believe the market will come up with a solution that would allow me and others to use a competitor product.

 

[Herdfan]

If they will not commit to my images on my computer being my property, and not available for use by Adobe and/or others they designate, then I'll drop Adobe. And come up with a Plan B.

While you probably have saved images on personal drives, now that everything is now in the cloud, do they also have copies of your work?

 

[Citysnaps]

While you probably have saved images on personal drives, now that everything is now in the cloud, do they also have copies of your work?

Not that I know of. There are two versions of Lightroom; Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Creative Cloud. I use Classic, where images are stored locally on my disks. With Lightroom Creative Cloud images are stored on Adobe servers, which I imagine is useful where people are on the go traveling.

I haven't seen the recent terms of service update, but I *suspect* what's causing the uproar is Adobe possibly having access to your images as you are post-processing them in the Classic version. Perhaps with some fine print saying images can be used to improve how Lightroom works as people are using it, or whatever. The concern appears to be Adobe using one's images to train some kind of AI machine learning software/aparatus Adobe is developing, and in the process claiming some kind of rights.

 

[Eric]

Adobe Lightroom is the only option for me.

If they will not commit to my images on my computer being my property, and not available for use by Adobe and/or others they designate, then I'll drop Adobe. And come up with a Plan B.

If that should happen, I believe the market will come up with a solution that would allow me and others to use a competitor product.

Same here but I don't ever house anything on their cloud service. I haven't looked at any of the details of this yet but I'm assuming the worst they could do is cut access to my saved work but I would still maintain my original source material anyway. I don't recall getting this popup and I use LRC and Premier Pro on a daily basis.

 

[Citysnaps]

Same here but I don't ever house anything on their cloud service. I haven't looked at any of the details of this yet but I'm assuming the worst they could do is cut access to my saved work but I would still maintain my original source material anyway. I don't recall getting this popup and I use LRC and Premier Pro on a daily basis.

I think the concern is Adobe having access to your images as you are processing them. For product improvement, of course. But then using them for AI training or whatever purposes. And claiming some kind of rights.

The problem for us is we have tens/hundreds of thousands of non-destructively edited images. And re-editing them in say, Capture One, would be an insurmountable task taking years. AFAIK, there's no automatic conversion software that would respect our non-destructive edits. And I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing that by hand.

Should Adobe be obstinate, I would hope someone would take advantage of the opportunity to write a conversion program. But that would take awhile - and would likely not be perfect. And then I'd have to learn Capture One, with its learning curve.

I've been using Lightroom since the beginning and it's all muscle memory for me at this point - with barely having to think about what I'm doing. It just happens.