UPDATE:

As a result of feedback from you, our customers, we have decided to withdraw the changes we announced in this post. In addition, Evernote is committed to being a leading advocate for Internet privacy and to set the bar for us and other companies that have the responsibility to protect your data. Read more about the steps we’re taking to exceed your expectations as we move forward.

“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.” This was the message from Evernote CEO Chris O’Neill today.

After receiving a lot of customer feedback expressing concerns about our upcoming Privacy Policy changes over the past few days, Evernote is reaffirming its commitment to keep privacy at the center of what we do. As a result, we will not implement the previously announced Privacy Policy changes that were scheduled to go into effect January 23, 2017.

Instead, in the coming months we will be revising our existing Privacy Policy to address our customers’ concerns, reinforce that their data remains private by default, and confirm the trust they have placed in Evernote is well founded. In addition, we will make machine learning technologies available to our users, but no employees will be reading note content as part of this process unless users opt in. We will invite Evernote customers to help us build a better product by joining the program.

“We announced a change to our privacy policy that made it seem like we didn’t care about the privacy of our customers or their notes. This was not our intent, and our customers let us know that we messed up, in no uncertain terms. We heard them, and we’re taking immediate action to fix it,” said O’Neill. “We are excited about what we can offer Evernote customers thanks to the use of machine learning, but we must ask for permission, not assume we have it. We’re sorry we disappointed our customers, and we are reviewing our entire privacy policy because of this.”

Evernote remains committed to the following:

Evernote employees do not and will not read your notes without your express permission.

Evernote complies with the law in ways that keep the privacy of customer data paramount.

Our “Three Laws of Data Protection” remain intact: your data is yours, it is protected, and it is portable.

This is the standard that we aim for and we appreciate our users for holding us to it.

To discuss this change or ask questions, please visit the Evernote Forums.