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Google ToS rated: “keeps your searches and logs for an undefined period of time”

78 pointsby hugoroyabout 12 years ago

10 comments

magicalistabout 12 years ago
I'm not sure about this site...it would be nice if someone like the EFF ran it and got actual lawyers to look at these. In this case:<p>&#62; <i>Google can share your personal information with other parties: Google will share your personal information with other parties. For sensitive information (medical, racial, ethnic, political, religious or sexuality) Google requires “opt-in”. Google can also share or publish aggregated data that does not identify a person</i><p>links to this discussion: <a href="https://groups.google.com/d/topic/tosdr/QZgR8faRWDU/discussion" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/d/topic/tosdr/QZgR8faRWDU/discussi...</a><p>which quotes this part of google's privacy policy:<p>&#62; <i>We do not share personal information with companies, organizations and individuals outside of Google unless one of the following circumstances apply:</i><p>&#62; <i>With your consent: We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google when we have your consent to do so. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.</i><p>and then he proceeds to conclude that because google separates the notion of "personal information" and "sensitive personal information", and the latter is covered by the "opt-in consent" clause above, that must mean that the former (plain "personal information") must be sharable because consent is assumed.<p>Logically that doesn't follow at all, since the base assumption would be that they don't share personal information unless it falls under one of the listed exceptions, and just because one "consent" has "opt-in" in front of it, does not mean that any other "consent" means some kind of assumed consent. If the words "opt-in" had never appeared, there would be no reason to guess otherwise.<p>What's worse, that line appears to be the sole source of information for him (and no one else came in to discuss it), so that becomes the authoritative line, without a caveat about how he arrived at that conclusion (though, luckily, a link to the "discussion" of that line). The site also says Hugo Roy is an "Economic Law student" in Paris, but his reading of those terms doesn't sound legal in the EU even if that was the correct conclusion.<p>One great thing about this project is that it's something no old media company would have ever attempted, through worries about liabilities, or fear of offending corporate partners, or just a perceived lack of interest from their viewers. It will hopefully be a great way for the actual users of the internet to keep companies accountable. On the other hand, if somehow an old media company <i>had</i> written about this, many would have consulted an expert (and possibly google themselves) before making that kind of sweeping conclusion. The EFF would have too. Hopefully participation can increase in this project so it's not just one guy's reading of a bunch of ToSs. I can consult random HN comments for that sort of thing :)
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GuiAabout 12 years ago
For most services, I agree to a ToS when I sign up. If I don't agree with the ToS, I can't create an account. (e.g.: dropbox, spotify, twitter, etc.)<p>But for Google, anyone can perform a search without agreeing to any ToS at all. What are the legal groundings and implications with regards to this?
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eksithabout 12 years ago
GitHub's one clause is a rather alarming.<p><pre><code> Your account can be suspended and your data deleted any time for any reason. </code></pre> The addition:<p><pre><code> ...forfeiture and relinquishment of all Content in your Account </code></pre> I'd like to think they go to suspension first and deletion as a very last resort well <i>after</i> you're notified of a reason. This rather draconian provision feels unnecessary when you could similarly go with just a "if you store illegal/liebelous/infringing stuff here, we'll delete it" clause.<p>They're not unique in this regard, but I'm curious as to why companies that genuinely care about the integrity of the data and the trust you place in them to store it will include such a statement in the first place.<p>That conflicts with the next one quite badly.<p><pre><code> Transparent security practices </code></pre> How is an opaque deletion policy considered transparent?
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denoabout 12 years ago
Some background on the 18 months they’re referring to:<p><a href="http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/eu-enforcement-action-against-google/" rel="nofollow">http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/eu-enforcement-action-ag...</a>
a1aabout 12 years ago
"[thumb_down] Spotify doesn't guarantee data security" I do not really agree on that being a "thumb down" - rather the opposite.<p>Also the "You cannot delete your account" is present under some sites, but not on facebook. Last time I checked it wasn't possible to remove all data on facebook(?).
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Samuel_Michonabout 12 years ago
That’s quite a contrast with DuckDuckGo: <a href="http://tosdr.org/#duckduckgo" rel="nofollow">http://tosdr.org/#duckduckgo</a>
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nnnnniabout 12 years ago
undefined != unlimited<p>Just sayin'.
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recoiledsnakeabout 12 years ago
Looks like Bing is better in this aspect.<p>From its policy:<p>We store search terms (and the cookie IDs associated with search terms) separately from any account information that directly identifies the user, such as name, e-mail address, or phone numbers. We have technological safeguards in place designed to prevent the unauthorized correlation of this data and we remove the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, cookies and other cross session identifiers, after 18 months.
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OGinparadiseabout 12 years ago
It's amazing how many people ware willing to let Google (or anyone for that matter) see and keep their most private information for ever. Your online searches and emails can truly show what's on your mind, there's no way I am going to let an advertising company connect them to my real name and address and /or catalog them forever.<p>Nope, not even if you show me what movie is playing when I pass near a theater. I'll manage to do without that or associated advertising that will almost certainly come.
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nijkabout 12 years ago
They are anonymized after 18 months, unless you have Web History enabled.<p><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-remove-your-google-search-history-googles-new-privacy-policy-takes-effect" rel="nofollow">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-remove-your-google...</a>