Evernote has decided that reading user notes is probably really bad for business, and has issued a statement that it will not be implementing its new privacy policy. This comes shortly after a massive revolt from its users who were unhappy that the company announced that it would be allowing its employees to review customer’s data.
CEO Chris O’neill said that, “trust is at the heart of our service. That means we need to be transparent, admit our missteps, and commit to making the Evernote experience the best it can be, from the way the app functions across platforms to the way we communicate with the people who use it.” Which may come a little too late as many users have already moved over to other services since the original announcement.
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Evernote was set to implement a new privacy policy on 23 January to help its new machine learning efforts. The idea was that selected employees would be cleared to read user notes in order to ensure that the AI was getting things right.
This does not mean that Evernote is giving up on its machine learning plans. Instead, it will allow users to opt into a programme that will open private notes for view by employees. In other words, the company is going to ask for permission before reading any private information; like it should have in the first place.
Still, Evernote says that it remains committed to the privacy of its users and doesn’t read their notes. Well, unless there is a legal request for that information to be opened up.
[Source: Evernote]
