I posted this to try and warn others. Once I had responses on how to stop it from happening I thanked people for the info . Then Pip from glowforge said it was all fake posts and the pictures could not have been taken from the gf camera. I tried to delete post and was told I need permission, I asked Pip to delete it and he said he wanted to keep it up. I asked him again today to delete it but it is early in the morning so he has not seen it yet. The o ly thing it let’s me do is edit my post. I thought it was a real problem and wanted to warn others. No I don’t own a different laser company and I don’t want glowforge to look bad. I even said in the comments thank you for the information and I feel a lot better now. No I will not keep responding in the chain because the issue has been resolved and I already thanked people for that.
They take a picture of the completed project. Here’s how to avoid the camera taking a picture when the lid has been raised: wait until the job has fully completed, the cooling down phase, etc.
Also, your lid camera takes two pictures as part of every print job, both a ‘before’ picture before the print starts, and an ‘after’ picture when the cooldown process completes after your print.’
That said, perhaps a software check could be written: if the interlock is determined to be open, the post job picture is not taken. I’m not sure if those instructions are passed on via the motion plan downloaded or created locally on the machine.
None of this would explain why Glowforge employees are emailing the images. If OP is correct in stating that photos of her, or anyone else, have been taken in the privacy of their home, and then emailed around, that would be a serious invasion of privacy And probably a lawsuit-worthy invasion of privacy.
You seem to be jumping from A straight to Z without knowing anything in the middle.
No, what I’m doing is pointing out that if Glowforge employees are photographing people in the privacy of their home without their knowledge and then emailing those images to others, that is illegal. And I did say “IF.” I have no proof that they are or aren’t, but the OP seems pretty sure of her statement. Maybe Glowforge can step in at this point and clarify.
I am in Glowforge groups and some of their photos have been sent in emails. They posted screen shots of the emails. That is the only reason I know about it. My pictures have not been sent in an email, but I thought I should warn others. Thank you so much for explaining it to me though. I do take projects out before cool down is completed sometimes. So I do feel better knowing it is my fault and it doesn’t just take photos when the lid is open. I will wait until cool down is over and will make sure I am fully clothed from now on.
We make it a point to be sure to have pants on when we’re lasering. 
This isn’t really something that Support can address, so I’m going to shift your warning out into the Everything Else category so they don’t close it. (People can continue to discuss there.) 
That’s a wise policy, and one that I follow myself. But the point is that you shouldn’t have to do that in the privacy of your home. Even the highest levels of law enforcement are required to obtain a court order before they can record you without your consent when you’re in your own home. The glowforge lasers have a lid open sensor. The camera should be disabled as soon as that sensor is tripped.
Read the Terms of Service… we agree to allow those pictures to use the service.
Unfortunately, the machine can’t operate without those photos being taken of the bed. If a person accidentally opens the lid too soon, without waiting for the second shot, then yes, the camera in the lid can catch a picture of your gut, or the house behind you. It just depends on when the shot happens. That’s why they tell us to wait for the cool down period.
Glowforge doesn’t want pictures of our houses cluttering up their servers. And if they are sending courtesy shots privately via email to notify people that they need to wait a few seconds longer before opening the lid, I wouldn’t have an issue with it, but they might just want to notify them without sending the photos. People freak out when they realize that the camera is taking photos of the interior.
The open lid sensor works, however, people can bypass it using magnets. I feel like I’ve seen a similar discussion about the photos before, but they didn’t realize that by using magnets on their lid, the machine was taking its regular closed lid photos, but while it was actually open.
Also, who’s getting emails? If they are emailing amongst the staff, we wouldn’t know. And I have never had glowforge send me any email with a photo in it.
Lmao. I didn’t think about courtesy emails.
I feel a lot better knowing that I can stop the pictures from being taken, I just have to be patient. Emailing the pictures is still bad though. Now everyone will know how to prevent it from happening to them =) Thank you for the info.
Where exactly did you read that? I searched the TOS and didn’t see find anything related to pictures, photos, images taken by the glowforge.
I did find this, though:
Limited Disclaimer. HOWEVER, GLOWFORGE DOES NOT DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY OR OTHER RIGHT THAT GLOWFORGE IS PROHIBITED FROM DISCLAIMING UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
You know when innocent things are taken out of context and then blown out of proportion? This seems like one of those things.
If you find people on FB (or anywhere else) spreading around things that seem shocking and bizarre, the best option is to ask knowledgeable people what is going on rather than freaking out. And if you find that something awful is going on, address it with someone who can do something about it. If the pictures are being sent in the context of discussing tech support, carry on. If, for some crazy reason, a GF employee is just randomly sending pictures taken from cameras, you can report that.
That is from the 09-19-2020 version of the Terms, I haven’t looked at it lately. I’m gonna bet it’s still in there though, in some fashion.
Freaking out? Hardly. But it is a sensitive issue for me, since a female family member of mine was once photographed undressed without her permission in her home. Did she “freak out?” Yes, she did and rightfully so. That’s why the OP’s post was very relevant. What if she was breastfeeding her child while operating the laser? Does glowforge have the right to photograph that? NO, they do not.
The camera can only take a picture of what it is pointed at, which is the bed of the machine. In order for someone to have a picture taken of herself breast feeding, she would need to be opening the machine with her baby in her arms at the split second when the camera fires. It’s not likely to happen.
(And you really shouldn’t be opening the lid while holding your baby.) 
That statement concerns photos that the USER takes to upload to GLOWFORGE, not GLOWFORGE taking photos of you and your home without your consent. Read the statement “YOU UPLOAD OR CREATE” in various places.
And it’s pointed directly at the user when the lid is opened? Yes? It shouldn’t be taking pictures at that point under any circumstances.