The 5 Most Laughable Terms of Service On the Net

nicholas.m.carlson writes "According to these five terms of service and EULA, Google owns any content you create using its Chrome browser and can filter your Gmail messages if it likes. Facebook says it can sell its users' uploaded images as stock photography. YouTube can keep footage of your kids forever, even after you've deleted it from the site. And AOL can ban you for using vulgar language on AIM. Funny, right? That's why Valleywag calls them 'The 5 most laughable terms of service on the Net.'" Reader dlaudel writes, regarding the previously-mentioned Google EULA for Chrome, "According to Ars Technica, Google's EULA for Chrome was just copy-and-pasted from its EULA for other services, a practice that is apparently common at Google."

Comments

How/why does Chrome have an EULA

[TwistedSymmetry]

...Considering that it is open source?
Or am I missing something?

from the EULA:

[nomadic]

9.4 Other than the limited license set forth in Section 11, Google acknowledges and agrees that it obtains no right, title or interest from you (or your licensors) under these Terms in or to any Content that you submit, post, transmit or display on, or through, the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in that Content (whether those rights happen to be registered or not, and wherever in the world those rights may exist). Unless you have agreed otherwise in writing with Google, you agree that you are responsible for protecting and enforcing those rights and that Google has no obligation to do so on your behalf.

Unless they changed it since the story was posted (which is entirely possible), Google makes no such claim.

Re:They're supposedly changing the Chrome EULA

[blair1q]

Just what is a "Senior Product Counsel"?

Google is making things up as it goes along and hoping you'll believe only the last thing they tell you.

They're keeping the data. And using it. And profiting from it. As long as you don't stop them. And how can you? Except by not giving it to them, by never using the Internet.

Re:while funny,

[dakameleon]

Looking at the terms:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant...

They're not exposing themselves to a lawsuit, because by agreeing to those terms you're certifying that anything you upload, you have permission to grant license on.