We wanted to let you know of an update to our Privacy Policy that’s posted on camerabits.com. Like many companies, we post a privacy policy to clearly explain what personal information the company collects, how that information is used, and how it is protected. It also helps the company comply with legal requirements and build trust by showing customers that their data is handled responsibly. With the advent of machine learning and what is known as generative AI, there has understandably been curiosity and concern from photographers as to how their images fit into this. It has always been the case that Photo Mechanic, as a software, operates locally on a user’s computer and does not transmit images to Camera Bits (except in cases where users sometimes choose to upload images to our technical support team) That, combined with the fact that we believe in photographers and know that they hold the rights to their hard work, means that there is never a risk that their images, when handled and managed by Photo Mechanic, would be made available to any sort of machine learning or AI training. But we thought it would be a good idea to affirm that commitment by adding this section to our Privacy Policy:
Your images and metadata within Photo Mechanic software
We respect your privacy and ownership of your data. In the course of using the software, Images and associated metadata are never uploaded to Camera Bits servers. Your images and metadata will not be used to train, improve, or develop any artificial intelligence (AI) models, machine learning algorithms, or third-party AI systems. Your content remains strictly for your use within the scope of the functionality of the software provided. If you choose to upload images to Camera Bits forums or technical support sites for technical support or troubleshooting purposes, the images and metadata will only be used to troubleshoot or diagnose the specific issue and not used by Camera Bits to train, improve, or develop any artificial intelligence (AI) models, machine learning algorithms, or third-party AI systems.
Within Photo Mechanic software, there is an optional feature for looking up the names of locations that are specified with GPS information within some images. When requested by the user, this feature will upload GPS data to Camera Bits to determine location information, but that data is not used by Camera Bits for any other purpose.
We appreciate the inquiries and hope this clarifies things. May it offer some peace of mind, or at least a little in these turbulent times.
