A dev tool's default setting just became a privacy scandal. zhipu's zcode, called out september 18,…
a dev tool's default setting just became a privacy scandal. zhipu's zcode, called out september 18, uploaded the workspace and full git history to the cloud with codebase indexing on by default, before an apology and a promise to delete it.
defaults are the new consent.
Context
An independent developer's disclosure on blog.ferstar.org, dated 17 September 2026 and later updated, claims logged-in ZCode packaged the workspace including full .git history, LFS cache, reflogs and global configs, encrypted it and uploaded it to Aliyun OSS, and later sections report the open-source repo and v3.14.x removing the upload pipeline. TechNode, 29 September 2026, says the issue came to light on 18 September, earlier versions had it enabled by default with no clear off option, and Zhipu announced cloud data deletion, verification by CAICT and NSFOCUS, and compensation. An earlier note recorded a Z.ai apology on 18 September tracing it to a repository-indexing feature on by default.
The upload of workspace and git history rests on the researcher's disclosure, not on Zhipu. Codebase indexing on by default is secondary only, from The Next Web and TechNode, and no Zhipu first-party statement was read. Called out on 18 September is unresolved between 17 and 18 September. The completed deletion verified by two third parties is a later window and not proof of what was promised on 18 September.
Watch next
- A Zhipu or Z.ai first-party statement with dates.
Sources
Provenance
The note above is reproduced unedited from the original post, first published on Threads on 21 September 2026 at 00:49 IST. Sources are the papers and datasets the note draws on.
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