Goodbye Evernote: Privacy Policy Update Allows Employees to Read Your Notes
The latest update to Evernote's privacy policy has angered users of the popular note-taking app. Myself included. The update allows certain employees to access and read your notes in order to improve the machine learning technology.
Not surprisingly, this his not gone over well for many users. Evernote also recently placed stricter limits on the number of devices that you could use the app on with a free account. You can now only use the free version on two devices. On top of that, they have raised the price of the premium version of the app.
Here is the paragraph that has caused the most controversy.
"If you would prefer to opt out of machine learning technologies on your content (including some which require some human review for oversight purposes), you can do so in your account settings, where it says, 'Allow Evernote to use my data to improve my experience.' If you do opt out, however, you may not be able to get the most out of your Evernote experience.
"And please note that you cannot opt out of employees looking at your content for other reasons stated in our Privacy Policy (under the section, "Does Evernote Share My Personal Information or Content?")."
So even if you do not want Evernote employees looking at your content, you cannot opt out. The only way out of allowing Evernote employees to read your notes is by deleting the app.
I was an Evernote user for a long time and love the app, but their recent device limit, price increase, and now the terrible privacy policy has finally led me to delete the app. Goodbye, Evernote.
What app do you use to take notes? Please let me know in the comments!
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To be fair, they have been able to look into users' accounts since the beginning. Allegedly they strive to keep that number to a strict few, but would not communicate how many that meant.
That is true, and I am under no illusions that other services don't do the same. The problem I have is no opt-out. There should be a way to say "No, I don't want your employees viewing my notes.".
I guess the best way to ensure that is to use a good old-fashioned notebook and pencil. :)
Yeah, analog always works :) You could go on the hunt for a program that's more secure and then do a tutorial about it for the rest of us ;) ...
Good idea. I'll do some research. :) I've followed you by the way.
I just got back from checking out your blog, and I've definitely followed you back. Gonna check back in later in the work day to read some more of your poetry... I'm kinda into poetry ;)
Thank you. I appreciate that!
What does this mean for those who have bought a phone and Evernote is one of the apps that came on the phone?
If you don't use the app it means nothing. If you do use it then it means that there is a chance that a select number of people at Evernote MIGHT be reading your notes.
Now is this change to the privacy policy on the newer updates for the app?
In answer to the question about Evernote alternatives:
I don't trust any app that stores my data in unencrypted format on an internet-facing server ( or any server for that matter). So that includes Simplenote and OneNote, which are commonly touted as Evernote alternatives.
The best alternatives I have found are Turtl and Zim. These are both free and open source, but very different.
Turtl stores your data in an end-to-end encrypted way (i.e. only you can read it; not even the developer has access). It's a note-taking app, presently in beta that works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. It presently supports Markdown text and some attachment functionality, as well as rather good search and tagging, and some basic sharing options. It is not Evernote, but it's a good option for syncing notes in a private way.
Zim is more like a Wiki you can use on your desktop computer to organize notes and attach files. The notes and the files are stored in folders, which you can sync between devices using the service of your choice. If you choose and end-to-end encrypted service, such as Tresorit, Spideroak or Sync.com then you essentially have a personalized Wiki that syncs with you between devices. Zim comes with a large number of customizations and plugins and runs on Windows, LInux and Mac (but not mobile, I think.)
Other apps to consider are:
Great response, I'm checking out Turtl right now looks quite nice and has a chrome extension which is certainly awesome! Surprised the community isn't much bigger, it does seem actively maintained though.