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Companies / Google / Workspace / Terms of Service

Google Workspace Terms of Service

2 serious, 4 to watch. Found 13 of 23 practices.
Applies to: businesses.
A

Do they lock you in for a year or more?Yes

(ii) Annual/Fixed-Term Plan. If Customer selects this option, Customer will be committed to purchasing the Services for one or more annual terms (as selected by Customer). Google will bill Customer according to the terms associated with Customer’s elections on the Order Form.
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 189–189
In plain wordsYou are committing to pay for the services for at least one full year, or however many years you choose on your order form. You cannot simply cancel without fulfilling the chosen term.

Do you pay their legal bills?Yes

13.2 Customer Indemnification Obligations. Customer will defend Google and its Affiliates providing the Services and indemnify them against Indemnified Liabilities in any Third-Party Legal Proceeding to the extent arising from (a) any Customer Application, Project, Customer Data, or Customer Brand Features; or (b) Customer's or an End User's use of the Services in breach of the AUP or Section 3.3 (Restrictions).
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 254–254
In plain wordsIf a third party sues Google because of your data, your apps, or your misuse of the services, you must pay for Google's legal defense and any resulting damages.

Do they refuse responsibility when things break?Partly

…ising out of or relating to this Agreement for any (a) indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages or (b) lost revenues, profits, savings, or goodwill. 12.2 Limitation on Amount of Liability. Each party's total aggregate Liability for damages arising out of or relating to this Agreement in connection with the GCP Services, GWS Services, SecOps Services, Looker (original) Services, or Cloud Identity Services, as applicable, is limited to the Fees Customer paid for such Services during the 12 month period before the event giving rise to Liability, except Google’s total aggregate Liability for damages arising out of or related to Services or Software provided free of charg…
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 244–245
In plain wordsThis clause limits the amount of money you can recover if the company causes you harm and prevents you from suing for indirect losses like lost profits. If you use free services, the most you can ever recover is $5,000.

Does your subscription renew by itself?Partly

…egin on the Effective Date and continue until this Agreement is terminated as stated in this Section 8 (Term and Termination). 8.2 GWS Services or Cloud Identity Services Renewal. The following terms apply only to renewals of GWS Services or Cloud Identity Services: (a) With a Flexible Plan. Order Terms for the Flexible Plan are monthly. At the end of each month, the Order Term will automatically renew for another month, unless canceled by Customer via the Admin Console. (b) With an Annual/Fixed-Term Plan. At the end of each Order Term for an Annual/Fixed-Term Plan, the GWS Services or Cloud Identity Services will renew consistent with Customer’s elections in the Order Form or Admin Console.
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 227–230
In plain wordsYour monthly plan will automatically renew every month unless you cancel it through your Admin Console. For annual plans, the renewal will follow the settings you chose in your order or console.

Do they own your ideas and feedback?Partly

…stomer Data for any other purpose. Google has implemented and will maintain technical, organizational, and physical measures to protect Customer Data, as further described in the Cloud Data Processing Addendum. If you are accessing the Services as a customer of an unaffiliated Google Cloud reseller, this Section 5.2 (Protection of Customer Data) is subject to the "Resold Customers" section of the applicable Service Specific Terms. 5.3 Customer Feedback. At its option, Customer may provide feedback or suggestions about the Services to Google ("Feedback"). If Customer provides Feedback, then Google and its Affiliates may use that Feedback without restriction and without obligation to Customer.
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 217–218
In plain wordsIf you share suggestions or feedback with Google, they can use those ideas however they want without paying you or asking for permission.

Must disputes be settled in their chosen court?Partly

(b) For U.S. Federal Government Entities. If Customer is a U.S. federal government entity, then the following applies: ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE SERVICES WILL BE GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, EXCLUDING ITS CONFLICT OF LAWS RULES. SOLELY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW, (I) THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA (EXCLUDING CALIFORNIA'S CONFLICT OF LAWS RULES) WILL APPLY IN THE ABSENCE OF APPLICABLE FEDERAL LAW; AND (II) FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE SERVICES, THE PARTIES CONSENT TO PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN, AND THE EXCLUSIVE VENUE OF, THE COURTS IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
workspace.google.com/terms/premier_terms, lines 277–277
In plain wordsIf you are a U.S. federal government entity, you are required to resolve all legal disputes exclusively in the courts of Santa Clara County, California. This means you cannot bring a lawsuit against the company in your own local or preferred court.

Checked, nothing hostile

reading your private messages, rights over the things you post or upload, using what you do to train AI, closing your account at any time, giving your data to authorities without telling you, using your name or photo in ads, passing your data on if the company is sold.

Not covered by these documents

selling or sharing your data, giving up the right to sue in court, refusing to let you delete your account, changing the terms without asking you, tracking you across sites and apps, keeping your data after you leave, using your data to target ads at you, keeping rights to your content after you leave, combining your data across their products, denying responsibility if your data leaks. These usually live in a document we haven’t read yet.