Yahoo News Evernote won't let you opt out of employees reading parts of your notes
Evernote CEO Chris O'Neill was put on the defensive Thursday as he was forced to explain his company's new privacy policy following a backlash from users.
In an update posted on Evernote's blog Thursday, O'Neill said the company had "communicated poorly" about the changes and attempted to clarify the more controversial parts of the policy, which allows Evernote employees to access user notes.
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"Privacy has always been at the heart of Evernote, and we’re as committed as ever to upholding our Three Laws of Data Protection," he wrote, referring to the company's internal policy around how it handles user data.
Evernote users have been up in arms ever since the company's updated privacy policy — set to kick off in January 2017 — added a vaguely worded clause that Evernote employees would be able to view portions of users' notes, as part of Evernote's efforts to bolster the company's machine learning abilities.
Still, O'Neill defended the new policy saying the company's move to machine learning was necessary to "make our users even more productive" and that this type of technology only works with some human oversight.
From the policy:
Unsurprisingly, privacy conscious users aren't happy about the idea of Evernote employees being able to read their notes.
"Select Evernote employees may see random content to ensure the features are working properly but they won’t know who it belongs to," O'Neill explained Thursday. "They’ll only see the snippet they’re checking. Not only that, but if a machine identifies any personal information, it will mask it from the employee."
The company is also providing an opt-out feature, but it only applies to the service's machine learning capabilities, not to the ability of employees to view your notes.
Again, from their policy (emphasis our own):
Writing Thursday, O'Neill attempted to assuage users' concerns, saying,"Evernote employees do not view the content of user notes except in very limited cases."
"Like other internet companies, we must comply with legal requirements such as responding to a warrant, investigating violations of our Terms of Service such as reports of harmful or illegal content, and troubleshooting at the request of users. The number of employees who are authorized to view this content is extremely limited by our existing policies, and I am personally involved in defining them."
Though some users appear to be satisfied with the CEO's additional explanation, many more were still concerned.
@croneill Wholly inadequate. This is arrogant, invasive and technically suspect: "spot checks" can be done on test notes, test accounts.
— Chris Maytag (@cpm5280) December 15, 2016
@evernote proved to be a great tool to keep me organized. Sorry but this new privacy policy means I have to move my notes somewhere else. :/
— Cristiano (@_csalmeida) December 15, 2016
@croneill @evernote if it's random, no personal info, pieces of notes - the policy should call out as such to what employees can see.
— J Dubbs (@jwest84) December 15, 2016
Sorry @evernote...new not-so-privacy policy is a bust. Looking for an alternative option
— Dandelion Thyme (@DandelionThyme) December 15, 2016
For those who want to leave, Evernote has a guide to deactivating your account and moving your notes to a new service. The new privacy policy goes into effect Jan. 23, 2017.
