I've been trying to figure this out for a while, and the only two sources I can find starkly disagree. Does anyone know for sure? I'm not really concerned about publishing or anything, I just don't like the idea of not owning what I write.
No problem. Keep in mind that you do grant them a license to do certain things with the work, such as reproduce it. See their Terms and Conditions, here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/ That license is limited to certain uses pertaining to being able to offering the service, improve it etc. (e.g. they need to reproduce your files on their server). I'm not worried about their terms and conditions, and it would be very bad business indeed for Google to try to do something it isn't supposed to with user content, but it's worth keeping in mind that you're relying to some extent on Google's own interpretation of what is means to improve, promote, or offer their service. But nothing transfers ownership to Google. You retain that.
Also worth noting, Google encrypts files at rest, which means (someone can correct me if this is wrong) a employee just sitting there looking at your Google Drive couldn't see the contents. However, you have to assume someone at Google has access to the encryption key and could see them. I believe they have an option to provide your own encryption key, in which case no one at Google should be able to see the contents of your files.
But people will see that you're asking for a special key and you'll be cluing someone in on the fact that you think you have something valuable in your drive. If you say nothing, you're just a few more bits in a million terabytes of data.
Yeah, that could be. Another file in the multitude on Google's servers isn't going to interest anyone. Though if you use your own encryption key, how easy is it for someone to break in even if they think there might be something important in the files?
No clue. "Hey let me get that encryption key on so and so's files. They're breaking our terms of service." I'm not accusing google of anything. I just don't think it's good security to shine a light on yourself when you don't have to. I would be like buying a gun for home defense and hanging it on a wall where someone can see it through the window.
They could do that if they have the encryption key. But if they don't know it because it is a user key and was never given to them, then they'd have to break the encryption somehow. I suppose if you really wanted to be safe you could just encrypt everything before uploading it, but at some point the effort seriously outweighs the risk. I think you are right in your initial assessment that files are a speck in a sea of data.
Wow, reading that, the question I have is what are you getting from them using their service? I see nothing worth It's not even clear exactly what "you retain ownership" means considering their caveats. I understand how your business address and the fact they data mine your emails is pretty standard. Pretty sure all the email services data mine your email content. And the disclaimer sounds innocent enough: But this part: WTF. That's very broad.
So this makes sense if: ...if the standard language in the user agreement specified only if the user wanted said document shared. And this is odd: Sure, you post a video on Youtube, but are they saying if you log on in an internet cafe with your password they can't tell if you are you? The article is good, worth reading.
