Change to Adobe terms & conditions outrages many professionals

Update: Adobe has now clarified the meaning and intent.

A change to Adobe terms & conditions for apps like Photoshop has outraged many professional users, concerned that the company is claiming the right to access their content, use it freely, and even sub-licence it to others.

The company is requiring users to agree to the new terms in order to continue using their Adobe apps, locking them out until they do so …

Adobe says that its new terms “clarify that we may access your content through both automated and manual methods, such as for content review.”

The terms say:

Solely for the purposes of operating or improving the Services and Software, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free sublicensable, license, to use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, and translate the Content. For example, we may sublicense our right to the Content to our service providers or to other users to allow the Services and Software to operate with others, such as enabling you to share photos

Designer Wetterschneider, who counts DC Comics and Nike among his clients, was one of the graphics pros to object to the terms.

Here it is. If you are a professional, if you are under NDA with your clients, if you are a creative, a lawyer, a doctor or anyone who works with proprietary files – it is time to cancel Adobe, delete all the apps and programs. Adobe can not be trusted.

Movie director Duncan Jones was equally blunt in his response.

Hey @Photoshop what the hell was that new agreement you forced us to sign this morning that locked our ap until we agree to it? We are working on a bloody movie here, and NO, you don’t suddenly have the right to any of the work we are doing on it because we pay you to use photoshop. What the f**k?!

Concept artist Sam Santala pointed out that you can’t raise a support request to discuss the terms without first agreeing to them. You can’t even uninstall the apps!

I can’t even get ahold of your support chat to question this unless I agree to these terms beforehand.

I can’t even uninstall Photoshop unless I agree to these terms?? Are you f**king kidding me??

Some are speculating that the terms are simply to allow Adobe to create thumbnails from files stored in its cloud storage space, while other suggest it might related to CSAM scanning – something done by almost all cloud services.

If either of these innocent explanations apply, however, Adobe has completely failed to explain the purpose of the terms, and users are not happy.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment, and will update with any response. Update: Since received.

9to5Mac collage of screengrab by Wetterschneider and image by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash