Subject Changes to the Google APIs Terms of Service

Wed like to inform you about some changes were making to our Google APIs Terms of Service.

You’ll find the new terms at the same location as always, and we’ve also posted a summary of the main changes.

Some of the bigger changes include:

• On the subject of Data Portability: we are making it clear that your obligation to abide by the Data Portability requirements continues for as long as you use or store user data obtained through the APIs (whether or not you are still using our APIs) and that you agree you won’t make that data available to third parties who don’t also abide by this obligation. In other words: we value end users’ control over their data; if you’d like to use our APIs, you should, too.
• We are requiring developers to not violate any other Google terms of service.
• We need to make our APIs better, and we may sometimes do that by using content submitted through the APIs. We reserve the right to do this, but we will only do this to provide, secure and improve the APIs (and related service(s)) and only in accordance with our privacy policies.

And some of the smaller changes include:

• We are asking developers who use our services to keep us up-to-date on how to contact them.
• Making it clear that the APIs should not be used for high risk activities, with ITAR data, or with HIPAA protected health information (unless Google agrees in writing).
• Asking developers to make reasonable efforts to keep their private keys private and not embed them in open source projects.
• We are reminding you that we set limits on your usage of our APIs; if you need more, you need to obtain our consent.
• Most changes to the Terms of Service may go into effect 30 days after posting (rather than the prior 7 days)

The updated terms will go into effect on December 5, 2014.

Posted by Dan Ciruli, Product Manager

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