yeah what exactly did they do? Change a few lines in their terms of service agreement that nobody reads? The HORROR!
Seriously dude they didn't shut you down overnight like craigslist constantly does, they didn't suddenly start charging you for the API...all they did was write in a few extra clauses into their ToS. Nothing actually changed for you.
These things are always in the terms, they are just put there by lawyers, so that they have some options 20 years from now when they might need it against a real culprit.
And as far as your API provider/user relationship based on respect, that's a load of bull. As far as I can see the only thing Google is "guilty" of is changing a few lines in their ToS, which is entirely in their right. You on the other hand are guilty of attacking them over something that they haven't even done yet. Smearing them with what ifs about events that didn't even happen yet.
If Google shuts you down, then you can bitch and moan. But until they do, what exactly are you complaining about? Hell it's already been 6 months since they changed the ToS, if the ToS specifically targeted you(like you imply), you'd have been banned already.
I disagree. The author picked exactly the right time to draw attention to this dickish move by Google. Investing time and money into building a startup based on another company's API is risky, but building said startup in direct violation of their ToS is downright irresponsible.
> If Google shuts you down, then you can bitch and moan.
No. If he continues and Google shuts him down, he can no longer bitch and moan, because he will have knowingly broken the API agreement.
> if the ToS specifically targeted you(like you imply), you'd have been banned already.
Doubtful. A ban would probably only be enforced if he actually started gaining business, users & notoriety.
all they did was write in a few extra clauses into their ToS. Nothing actually changed for you.
Those few clauses gave Google a kill switch to his site. If it stayed small Google wouldn't have done anything, if it succeeded they'd come after him for violating the terms, and probably end up acquiring it for little or nothing.
As far as I can see the only thing Google is "guilty" of is changing a few lines in their ToS, which is entirely in their right.
It is their right. It's also a change that nullified his business model, so letting him know about it would have been the non-evil thing to do, and that would have taken no additional effort since they were already communicating with him. It's possible that their failure to do so was incompetence rather than malice, but the result is the same.
Comments
yeah what exactly did they do? Change a few lines in their terms of service agreement that nobody reads? The HORROR!
Seriously dude they didn't shut you down overnight like craigslist constantly does, they didn't suddenly start charging you for the API...all they did was write in a few extra clauses into their ToS. Nothing actually changed for you.
These things are always in the terms, they are just put there by lawyers, so that they have some options 20 years from now when they might need it against a real culprit.
And as far as your API provider/user relationship based on respect, that's a load of bull. As far as I can see the only thing Google is "guilty" of is changing a few lines in their ToS, which is entirely in their right. You on the other hand are guilty of attacking them over something that they haven't even done yet. Smearing them with what ifs about events that didn't even happen yet.
If Google shuts you down, then you can bitch and moan. But until they do, what exactly are you complaining about? Hell it's already been 6 months since they changed the ToS, if the ToS specifically targeted you(like you imply), you'd have been banned already.
I disagree. The author picked exactly the right time to draw attention to this dickish move by Google. Investing time and money into building a startup based on another company's API is risky, but building said startup in direct violation of their ToS is downright irresponsible.
> If Google shuts you down, then you can bitch and moan.
No. If he continues and Google shuts him down, he can no longer bitch and moan, because he will have knowingly broken the API agreement.
> if the ToS specifically targeted you(like you imply), you'd have been banned already.
Doubtful. A ban would probably only be enforced if he actually started gaining business, users & notoriety.
all they did was write in a few extra clauses into their ToS. Nothing actually changed for you.
Those few clauses gave Google a kill switch to his site. If it stayed small Google wouldn't have done anything, if it succeeded they'd come after him for violating the terms, and probably end up acquiring it for little or nothing.
As far as I can see the only thing Google is "guilty" of is changing a few lines in their ToS, which is entirely in their right.
It is their right. It's also a change that nullified his business model, so letting him know about it would have been the non-evil thing to do, and that would have taken no additional effort since they were already communicating with him. It's possible that their failure to do so was incompetence rather than malice, but the result is the same.