Google Drive Violates CR4 Members' Privacy

Just to be clear, this only is the case if you have an account with Google right? I clicked on the link and get asked for credentials that I dont have. In this case I wonder how I survived without a google account for so long! Or do I live longer because I dont have one?

I'm not sure, but as the file is declared 'public', it shouldn't be asking you for *anything* and, knowing Google, this will never be fixed. They're like little ADHD children with a ten-second attention span, rushing off to the Next New Toy, leaving messes in their wake for somebody else to clean up. No thanks. Been there, done that. Pulling my files off Drive.

People put their videos up on YouTube, for instance - someone else's (Google's) computer system, no? They upload stills and gifs to Flickr, Picasa and Imgur - someone else's computer systems again. That you see these files as videos and photos, and not as raw files, does not change the fact that they're all files on someone else's computer system, yes? These are all 'free storage' are they not? Why do they do it? Advertising. Why does Google offer storage on Drive? To get you hooked in the hopes that once you run out of space you'll upgrade to more storage for a small fee. As someone who produces large (> 2GB) video files I find Drive extremely handy, enough so to pay for additional storage as needed. Dropbox and others take the same approach - the same approach drug pushers use: get 'em hooked first. After that they'll pay for more.

Now, for someone uploading private, sensitive or proprietary data to The Cloud (Drive is in The Cloud) in the belief that it is safe there? Well, we both know there's a fool born every minute.

You should have no expectation to privacy for anything that is in digital format. Once on the web or in the cloud it is potentially viewable by anyone with the right tools.

Just ask the woman who was offered a modeling contract after her face appeared on one of those random fan shots during a soccer game. A few days later someone revealed that she was a hunter, bye-bye contract.

The web is a great tool, but as a slippery-slope its angle is almost 90º.

Not exactly a response to this post but the posting on "8 Worst Terms of Service" is a related read.