At the end of March, Google held its annual I/O conference, and during the major keynote unveiled a brand new feature called Photos .
With Photos, users can upload an unlimited number of images and videos (as long as those photos are 16MP or lower, and videos are uploaded at 1080p HD or lower resolution) to Google’s new service, and those photos will be searchable through a variety of variables, including location, faces, and more. The unlimited storage is free, too, so there was quite a bit of attention paid to the new option for cloud storage.
As noted by Dave Mark of The Loop, some hesitation was also cautioned, as some language within the license agreement made many pause before uploading their content to the new service. Mark notes that the wording Google uses in the agreement that any user must agree to before using Photos suggests that photos and videos uploaded to the new service can be used for promotional materials by Google:
“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps).“
As noted in the original article, it’s suggested in this language that Google essentially has the rights that you fork over for the images that you upload to do with whatever they want after it’s been uploaded to their service. So, an image uploaded by you that also features your friend could be used for an ad showcasing Photos sometime down the road.
By uploading your photos or videos, you’re handing over the rights of that content to Google, and the company even states that, before you upload a photo or video, you should make sure that you’ve got the rights to do that in the first place (so they can adopt them as their own):
“Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.“
Mark published his misgivings about the licensing language last Friday, and would eventually get in touch with a Google spokesperson soon after. That spokesperson provided this statement regarding Google’s plans to not use images for any promotional materials:
“Google Photos will not use images or videos uploaded onto Google Photos commercially for any promotional purposes, unless we ask for the user’s explicit permission.“
This is the right direction for Google to take, but as Mark points out, this is simply a statement made to him by a spokesperson directly, and not a change to the licensing language that a Photos user has to agree to before using the service. Without a change in that language, it would appear that, if Google were to “change its mind†and use those images for promotional materials down the road, they certainly can.
Recently, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook made searing comments regarding “free services,†and the tradeoff of the information that users hand over to use them. Do you plan on using Google Photos?
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