Apparently the idea for my Google Maps API part of my challenge has already been done by foursquare. Dammit, that was a good idea too. They’ve taken it to the next level as well, making it possible to complete badges (much like Stackoverflow and/or Kongregate). It’s a bit limited, in that you can’t have it in every city right now, but it should be fun to play with and might get a solid following from people with smartphones and people that love the whole geo-tagging phenomenon. Oh well, back to the drawing board, this was probably a bit complex for a week long project anyway.

A huge deal has been made of the Terms of Service for Google Accounts and Google Chrome. Slashdot, Ars Technica and a host of bloggers jumping on the bandwagon to pimp their blogs. And the cause a few sentences in the Terms of Service for Google Accounts, which apparently got copied to Google Chrome (Which has since been corrected). Here is the offending passage (as copied to slashdot):

“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.”

Scary? Not really, as far as Google Chrome goes its actually a mistake. Someone at Google didn’t read the Google Accounts ToS closely enough when they copied and pasted
it. The offending section has now been changed:

11. Content license from you

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.

Many people are also concerned about the above as it relates to Google Accounts. Let me debunk those concerns, first by providing the whole section of the ToS:

11. Content licence from you

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 licence 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 licence 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.

11.2 You agree that this licence includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this licence shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above licence.

and then with the following from Googles own FAQ:

Privacy and security: Understanding section 11.1 of our Terms of Service

We’ve received questions over time about the meaning of section 11.1 of our Terms of Service. We realize that or those not familiar with legal agreements for services that use the Internet, these terms can look confusing, or even frightening.

The first thing to understand is that this language doesn’t give Google ownership rights to your data. You, and you alone, own your content. Whether you wish to keep your content totally private, or share it with the world, that’s your choice.

However, in order to honor this choice, Google Docs needs permission to display your content as you see fit. This is what we mean by a “license to reproduce.” We
need to ensure that when you click the “Publish document” button, or use the “Invite collaborators” option, we have the license to carry out your wishes. It
is this agreement, between Google Docs and you, the user, that section 11.1 of our Terms of Service reflects.

So firstly the license that you grant google is for the sole purpose of technically performing ‘publishing’ and ‘collaborating’ on content, and secondly The Terms of Service go on to talk about terminating the agreement. Honestly its all legal speak, Google could get away with a lot if it wanted to, with or without license. But they market themselves as not being evil, stepping away from that statement is not in their best interest; people have long memories. So sure be a little bit cautious when you use these wonderful Web 2.0 services that google and others provide, but please spare me the overhype. If there is a problem then contact the people that can fix it and a wait for a response.