Evernote Staff Can Read Your Notes and Cannot Be Refused
Evernote has just posted an update to its Privacy Policy detailing how the company will use some of the new machine learning tools. For these tools to work, Evernote needs to be human-readable, and that’s not the only reason a coworker will view your notes.
In a recent update to their Privacy Policy, which will go into effect on January 23, 2017, Evernote describes how their machine learning technology will work, which, in part, includes the fact that “human verification is simply inevitable.” Machine learning analyzes your notes and then provides a number of features, including improved search, learning how you use Evernote, then displaying data specific to how you use it, and even determining if you are doing something. like making a list and then suggesting other Features. To ensure that their technology is working as expected, employees need to review the content of some of the notes. This does not mean that all Evernote employees will have access to this data, but it does mean that some will.
Evernote allows you to opt out of machine learning technologies (next to “Allow Evernote to use my data to improve my experience”), but Twitter user Hadron Busk emphasizes that doing so will not get you anywhere with regard to other reasons employees can view your entries:
According to the Privacy Policy , Evernote employees can view the content of your notes:
- If they believe you are in violation of the Terms of Service
- For troubleshooting or for “maintenance and service improvement”
- If they deem it necessary to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Evernote and its users.
- To comply with legal obligations such as warrants, court orders, subpoenas, or other government requests.
If you are worried about the content of your notes getting in the eye of an employee or at the request of the government, you can always encrypt them so that even employees cannot read them, but for some people this is still off-putting.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to log out of Evernote if you’re not a fan of the new Privacy Policy . If you are an Evernote user, this policy is worth reading carefully, so be sure to read it and decide what you think of it. This page contains a list of most of the new changes .
Update : Evernote CEO Chris O’Neill responded to concerns on his blog . Here are the points that directly address the problem of machine learning:
The number of employees allowed to view this content is extremely limited by our existing policies and I am personally involved in defining them ….
Some Evernote employees may see random content to make sure features are working correctly, but they won’t know who owns it. They will only see the fragment being checked. Moreover, if the machine identifies any personal information, it will hide it from the employee.
Update 2: Evernote has responded and will be restructuring its Privacy Policy. They will also make the new machine learning system plug in rather than ditch it.