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Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

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Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#21

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #19

Does it really matter? I get google mail, with 6+ gigs of quota. I can make free calls via google's email website. I have a google phone number from GVoice. If my phone service is deactivated, I still get calls and texts and transcription. All I need then is to log in via a free wifi. I have all my contacts saved from my phone, along with free recording and voicemail transcription. I have a full history of what I've…

Gotta love the downvoter brigade. And yet, nobody tells why I'm downvoted.

I have an interview tomorrow, for a tech position. The fact I can give them a phone number that "always works" is spectacular. The same goes with my email as well. Do you know what my chances are of getting a job with neither of those things?? None.

And I also value my privacy. But at this point, my privacy is approaching 0, because of free services like Google. Perhaps when (if ever) I make a decent wage, I will come back to this tradeoff.

But for now, I'm looking at this as a form of corporate welfare for poor people. I benefit. They benefit.

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#24

Post by mauriciob »

TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #19

Does it really matter? I get google mail, with 6+ gigs of quota. I can make free calls via google's email website. I have a google phone number from GVoice. If my phone service is deactivated, I still get calls and texts and transcription. All I need then is to log in via a free wifi. I have all my contacts saved from my phone, along with free recording and voicemail transcription. I have a full history of what I've…

Data mining? I have no problem with that. Even the grocery store I go does that.

I'm not exactly OK when they say they can "reproduce, modify, create derivative works (...), publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."

Also, I wouldn't call my resume a "critical file". The source of the work I create (e.g. software), is a "critical file" if they can just use it however they want.

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#25

Post by huggyface »

mauriciob wrote: post #24
TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #19

Does it really matter? I get google mail, with 6+ gigs of quota. I can make free calls via google's email website. I have a google phone number from GVoice. If my phone service is deactivated, I still get calls and texts and transcription. All I need then is to log in via a free wifi. I have all my contacts saved from my phone, along with free recording and voicemail transcription. I have a full history of what I've…

Data mining? I have no problem with that. Even the grocery store I go does that. I'm not exactly OK when they say they can "reproduce, modify, create derivative works (...), publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content." Also, I wouldn't call my resume a "critical file". The source of the work I create (e.g. software), is a "critical file" if they can just use it however they want.

I'm not exactly OK when they say they can "reproduce, modify, create derivative works (...), publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."

Ignore the hysterical reactions by those with an agenda. That section of the ToU explicitly applies to information that you explicitly make public (such as posting on Google+).

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#26

Post by bandy »

joejohnson wrote: post #17
tomjen3 wrote: post #16

I expect to be given lots of ads for encryption related offers soon.

There are a few problems with using an encrypted volume for everything in your Dropbox/Google Drive (e.g. a TrueCrypt container). For instance, Dropbox's web-interface becomes useless; you can't see any of your files online, and can only access them by downloading the container to a machine with TrueCrypt, then decrypt the volume and retrieve the file you need. This is inconvenient and impossible in some situations.…

That would be SpiderOak. They don't hold your keys - they only hold blocks of data. Everything's encrypted and decrypted on your local box. The exception to that would be data you've marked as sharable.

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#27

Post by hackinthebochs »

eli wrote: post #14
hackinthebochs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it's not clear the license to "use, create derivatives, etc" is solely for the purpose of providing you access to your data worldwide. Using, say, your vacation photos in an advertisement seems within the scope of the TOS. Google could be clearer if they chose to be. I believe it is intentionally vague.

The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. That doesn't seem intentionally vague to me. I suppose a restriction on using vacation photos in their ads would be nice... But is that really what people are concerned about? That doesn't seem very likely or threatening.

Promoting seems problematic to me. What does promoting mean and in what manner will they be promoting their service using data that I upload? A reasonable laymen read of this basically means advertising.

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#28

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

mauriciob wrote: post #24
TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #19

Does it really matter? I get google mail, with 6+ gigs of quota. I can make free calls via google's email website. I have a google phone number from GVoice. If my phone service is deactivated, I still get calls and texts and transcription. All I need then is to log in via a free wifi. I have all my contacts saved from my phone, along with free recording and voicemail transcription. I have a full history of what I've…

Data mining? I have no problem with that. Even the grocery store I go does that. I'm not exactly OK when they say they can "reproduce, modify, create derivative works (...), publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content." Also, I wouldn't call my resume a "critical file". The source of the work I create (e.g. software), is a "critical file" if they can just use it however they want.

Did you miss the part where I work a "shit job" because I like eating, or was that convenient to dismiss?

I am _not_ a software designer. Nor do I create any sort of content that people wish to pay me for. I work as a gas station attendant right now, and have no creative endeavors lined up.

I also said I would reconsider this agreement when I make more money. But the value I receive far exceeds what value Google makes on me.

Also, for someone who is looking for work, and is aggressively looking, a resume IS is critical file.

Although, I would like to see an investigation of free services of this nature indeed helps people on their feet. I'm not sure if poor people realize what can be done to alleviate problems. (note: not saying we poor are stupid, but instead just not aware of choices)

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#29

Post by hackinthebochs »

jonknee wrote: post #18
hackinthebochs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it's not clear the license to "use, create derivatives, etc" is solely for the purpose of providing you access to your data worldwide. Using, say, your vacation photos in an advertisement seems within the scope of the TOS. Google could be clearer if they chose to be. I believe it is intentionally vague.

How would you word it differently? They need to be able to use and create derivatives (thumbnails or cropping images is a "derivative", ditto for encoding a YouTube video). This is the terms for every Google product. If it was changed for line by line detail for every product, it would change so frequently that users could never know what was in it or agree to it. Drive hooks in with a ton of Google services, its pol…

What does promoting mean in this context? A reasonable read of this would basically mean "advertising". I think the dropbox terms are clearer, and not because they weren't written by a lawyer. They were specifically meant to be as clear as possible. Because Google has a global TOS now, they have to be vague enough to encompass all services. But this introduced ambiguity. I never understood their motivation for this. Clarity is preferable to a single TOS that we all know a minuscule amount of people read.

Re: Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer

#30

Post by hackinthebochs »

blhack wrote: post #11

This rhetoric is getting really old. If you want to store things that you would consider sensitive, dropbox, google drive, amazon, imgur, facebook, or whatever else are not the place to do it, and you shouldn't be expecting any different. I store comics, pictures from my iPhone, and a few bits of music that I like on my dropbox. if I use gDrive, it will be the same thing. This should be obvious .

>If you want to store things that you would consider sensitive, dropbox, google drive, amazon, imgur, facebook, or whatever else are not the place to do it, and you shouldn't be expecting any different.

This is true, but it shouldn't be. Ambiguous TOS's aren't helping matters. This is even more important now that companies like Google are trying to encourage people to trust their livelihoods to the cloud. They absolutely need to be as clear as possible, for their own sakes. It's odd that they allow themselves to be in a situation where their motives are questioned precisely when they're trying to get the masses comfortable with storing their lives in the cloud.

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