Adobe

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Adobe

Basic information
Founded	1982
Legal structure	Public
Industry	Software
Official website	https://adobe.com/

Adobe is a software company based in San Jose, California, that specializes in creative software, including photo editing, video editing, animation, illustration, web development, and more. Founded in 1982, the company developed the Portable Document Format (PDF) in 1992, along with a comprehensive suite of creative software. Widespread adoption of their products by novices, industry professionals, and nation-states has enabled Adobe to carve out a significant market share in the creative software industry. In FY24, Adobe's Digital Media Segment reported $15.86 billion in revenue to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Consumer impact summary

Lack of ownership

Adobe has switched from a perpetual license model to a subscription model (Creative Cloud).

Proprietary file formats

Works created in Adobe software come in Adobe-exclusive file formats such as .psd for Photoshop and .indd for InDesign.

Data breaches

In 2013, Adobe disclosed a data breach affecting approximately 3 million customers. This number was later revised to approximately 38 million. This incident resulted in a $1,000,000 settlement and a commitment to implementing new security policies. In 2019, researchers discovered that Adobe's Elasticsearch database was insecure, potentially exposing the information of approximately 7.5 million users. Breaches impacting U.S. federal agencies and Adobe Commerce/Magento stores also occurred in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Incidents

Transition to subscription-based software

Read More: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Subscriptions, Adobe CS Activation and Adobe sued by FTC over hidden fees in subscription plans

Adobe initially distributed its software with perpetual licenses, allowing its users to make a one-time payment to own and access a specific application or, through Adobe's Creative Suite, a collection of applications. In 2011, Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, a subscription service that provides users with access to individual applications or multiple applications for a monthly or yearly fee. In 2013, Adobe discontinued Creative Suite.

As of 2025, the only means to access up-to-date versions of many Adobe applications legally is through Creative Cloud. Additionally, the activation servers for perpetual licenses of previous versions of these applications have been shut down, which prevents consumers from activating the software using a legitimate copy and a serial number.

Creative Cloud offers various subscription options, including monthly plans (with monthly or annual billing) or prepaid yearly plans. There are also plans for individual applications and bundles containing multiple applications. Prices of individual applications range from $22.99 per month or $263.88 prepaid annually. The Creative Cloud Pro subscription, which includes 22 applications and additional extras such as 100 GB of cloud storage, is priced at $69.99 per month or $779.88 per year prepaid.

Plans billed annually but paid monthly have a cancellation fee 14 days after purchase. This fee is set at 50% of the remaining contract balance. For example, if the user cancels the plan in the seventh month of an annual plan that costs $69.99 per month, they will incur a fee of $174.98. Prepaid annual plans do not offer refunds or cancellation options after the 14-day period.

Alleged use of user data for AI training

Main article: Adobe's AI policy

Adobe has been accused of using user information for the purpose of training artificial intelligence. In 2024, Adobe updated its Terms of Service, granting itself a "non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license" to users' content. This grants Adobe permission to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works from, publicly display, publicly perform, and sublicense their users' content. This change raises concerns over conflicts with existing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and intellectual property rights. Users were required to accept the new Terms of Service to access their previously stored content.

Adobe has stated that it does not use user content to train generative AI, but Adobe may use it for improving its machine learning systems, with an opt-out available. However, no opt-out option was presented during acceptance of the Terms of Service.

User documents forced into the cloud with no opt-out

Some of Adobe's iPad applications, including, but not limited to, the digital painting application Adobe Fresco and the document scanning application Adobe Scan, require an account to access and do not offer any option to opt out of syncing all documents created in these applications with Adobe's cloud servers. Similarly, the new non-Classic versions of Lightroom are fundamentally built around uploading all images to Adobe's cloud.

There is no end-to-end encryption, i.e., Adobe has full access to all of these files. Disabling internet access allows you to work offline, but any files created in the affected apps will immediately sync to the cloud in the background as soon as the device is connected to a network again.

As an American company, Adobe is subject to the United States Cloud Act, which requires all US companies to grant the US government access to any user data, even if stored on servers outside their jurisdiction, and comply with requests to help with spy operations upon request.

Tracking users' eBook reading activities

In 2014, it was revealed that Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe’s e-book reading application, reported extensive information about users' reading habits back to Adobe. This included several unique identifiers, such as which e-books were added to the application, when each one was opened, and for how long, as well as the percentage read and page navigation information.

All of this information was transmitted completely unencrypted in plain text. This meant that someone else using the same public Wi-Fi as another user would have been able to track their reading activities in real-time, entirely undetected.

User information leaks and data breaches

In 2013, credit card information and personal data of 38 million users were exposed in a data breach.

In 2019, Adobe left approximately 7.5 million Creative Cloud customer records publicly accessible online due to gross negligence. The database was not protected with a password.

Paywalls Pantone colors and changes user files

Adobe and Pantone change colors in users' existing files in Photoshop and Illustrator to black unless they pay an additional $15/month.

Products

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe's previous line of creative software has been joined into a broader ecosystem called the Adobe Creative Cloud. The Creative Cloud includes updated versions of the previously purchasable software:

• Photoshop
• Lightroom
• InDesign
• After Effects
• Dreamweaver
• Illustrator
• XD
• and many more

Included with the Creative Cloud, depending on plan options, Adobe also offers cloud-based storage, typefaces, stock photos, and other stock files.

References

• Wikipedia contributors (2025-02-03). "Adobe Inc". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2025-02-06.
• Rossmann, Louis (2024-06-07). "Adobe roofies all of their customers". YouTube. Retrieved 2025-01-15.