Adobe has once again managed to step all over their own parts, this time by releasing a pop up notification that requires Creative Cloud users to accept new license terms just to be able to use the software that they are already paying for.

Not all users have seen the pop up yet, but those professionals who have are accumulating torches and pitchforks and rightly so.

What the new terms say is that Adobe can use your work for any purposes that they want, including sublicensing it to partners with no say on your part. For professionals working on client projects, this is a no go and worse if the project is covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement. As a professional, I have a folder full of NDAs that warrant that no one other than my client will ever see the work that they commission from me.

This egregious affront by the jack-holes at Adobe is not the first attempt to sodomize their customers by holding access to subscribed software for ransom and probably won’t be the last.

What does this cover? Everything that you create or edit with any Creative Cloud application that is transmitted to or stored on Adobe Cloud Services can be used by Adobe. If you only ever use Adobe software and create and store your work on your local storage, they cannot see it or manipulate it but Adobe is one of the most egregious companies in terms of the number of apps that you never see that communicate information about you and your work to Adobe. I recommend to all Adobe product users to sign in to your Adobe account, and go to the Data Privacy settings and turn all of them OFF. Whether you choose to do so or not is entirely your business. If you disagree and choose not to, that is your choice but don’t post comments or send me emails about your disagreement as they will be wastes of your time and I will never open them.

Note that I said work that is stored or saved locally. However, if you use services like Adobe’s overpriced Cloud Storage, or Adobe Express or Lightroom Cloud, or any Adobe Mobile App they can see and use your work. If you use Lightroom Classic and sync to Adobe Lightroom Cloud, they can see and use the synced works. If you use Lightroom Classic to produce a web page for clients, that is on Adobe servers and they can use that too.

EDIT : I neglected to include Adobe Portfolio in my list above. - Thanks to Jeff I for the query

You get to make your own decisions about using Adobe software. Whatever you decide is up to you. I don’t care. As a committed photographer and videographer with a widely read channel, I have done my part by letting you know. You take it from here. If you never get the pop up, good, but the next time you get a version update, consider reading the license terms and conditions before blindly clicking Accept. Or don’t.

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