Google has backed down after a storm of criticism about its new Google Chrome browser which meant that users would have to give up ownership of content created with the service to Google.
The search engine giant was forced into an embarrassing climb down just days after its new service was launched, after it was revealed in the terms and conditions of Chrome that Google had the right to reproduce, publish, and distribute content that was submitted or posted “on or through the service”.
But Google claimed the wording in the terms and conditions was an oversight and had been taken from the company’s existing terms and conditions. It removed them overnight.
The wording now reads: “You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services.”
A Google Australia spokesman confirmed the error. He said: “The way we handle many of our products is to have a universal terms of services that don’t always apply to every aspect of each. Clearly what was in the original was not Google’s intent and has been adjusted.”
But Peter Bray, managing director of digital agency Clear Blue Day, said although the condition had been amended, the fact it had been originally included should be a warning to the industry about Google’s future intentions.
“A warning shot was fired over the bow yesterday when Google Chrome’s terms and conditions stated that Google owned all data that went through its browser and could do with it want they liked,” he said. “They’ve changed this overnight, but the fact it was ever there is a warning to what their future intentions are.”
He added: “Google is a technology company trying to be a media company. The decision it makes are based on technology. It makes decisions based on the fact they can do it, not that they should do it,” Bray said.
