This keeps popping up on HN and refuses to die:<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3888705<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3886783<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3894287<p>Although it was countered by those who actually bothered to read the TOS:<p>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120424/17562518637/calm-down-internet-google-drives-terms-are-standard-countless-websites-including-gmail.shtml<p>http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/2973849/google-drive-terms-privacy-data-skydrive-dropbox-icloud<p>Also there is no such thing as the Google Drive TOS, there is the Google TOS and it’s not new, it's the same boilerplate stuff used everywhere.<p>FUD was inevitable seeing how many established competitors Google has in this area, but I suggest reading the text in question (<i>in its entirety</i>) from the source and making your own conclusions:<p>http://www.google.com/policies/terms/<p>Google Apps TOS:<p>http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/standard_terms.html
So, you're not granting them ownership, just a perpetual right to publish, display, modify and publicly perform anything you upload so long as the use has to do with "operating [or] promoting" Google's services? I guess the difference is significant in that they can't prevent you from using your property, but I still feel like you're kind of being obtuse if you think this negates people's concerns.
That said, the right to use your content to "promote" Google is the item that's problematic for me.<p>It can be legally argued that for a web based storage system with web based file management, all the other items are necessary to deliver the service.<p>The same cannot be argued for their right to use your content to promote Google.
I have read Google's TOS for drive.<p>I have read Google's privacy policy.<p>The fact they are used elsewhere within Google's services does not give me the comfort that it appears to give you.<p>Then again, drive is no more something that I would allow as an app on my phone than Gmail or Facebook are.