• 03Sep

    Google Chrome - Do No Evil

    donoevil

    It’s slick and it’s lightning fast.  It could almost be a piece of software that would make Steve proud.  And it looks like it may have been released early, bugs and all.  (but everything in Google is in Beta for 3 years, so that makes it okay.. right?)

    Anyway.  Google, as a public company, wouldn’t release a piece of software for “free” without some motivation of getting something back down the road.  That’s okay, I understand that and it’s the way of the world.  Corporations don’t exist to save the world, they exist to make money for their shareholders.  Google’s mantra is “do no evil”.  So why is it then that google seem to want to control the world?

    Okay, when I write “control the world”, perhaps I mean “control the information flowing from your computer”.  And when I say “control the information flowing from your computer”, perhaps I mean “have a non-exclusive license to anything that you submit, post or display through the services.”  The exact section is 11.1 of the license agreement:

    11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services. ;

    The way I read this is any data that passes from you through chrome and onto the internet they own a license for.  Okay they can’t sell it, but they can “reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform and distribute” it.  The implications for this could potentially be huge.

    Google may not control the world, but it looks like they certainly want to control the information.  Do no evil indeed.

    Update: After the internet uproar, looks like it was a copy and paste mistake and has now been removed.

    Posted by Stuart @ 12:26 pm

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