On June 20th, Google has announced Google Keep. This is part of the Google Drive offering and it can be seen at least like a show case of the possibilities of Cloud in the Google domain. Taken seriously, this looks like a potential competitor to applications like Evernote (though that one has a much broader feature coverage) or Microsoft OneNote (though that one is rather seamlessly integrated in Microsoft Office and has a non-cloud version). But, do we have to take it seriously ?

The most obvious answer is no. Seen from the distance of two weeks, Google Keep looks more like the (low in features) result of one of the personal projects that Google systematically promotes in order to create a buzz, be it for just one day. If you make abstraction of the Android interface (well, anything has an Android - or IOS - interface these days and it takes just minutes to build it), this is just a very poor note taking system whose only advantage is to offer on-the-fly storage of changes somewhere in the cloud.

But, the other most obvious answer is no. Actually, this is just another example of what Google tries to take away your content from you - for free - and monetize it the usual way without recognition of the value (even nanoscopic) of your input. Here, the really important thing to look at is the Privacy Policy.

The Google Keep Privacy Policy is that of Google Drive that state this:

Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services),communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones.

Of course, Google will provide additional language to clarify the meaning and borders of "what belongs to you stays yours" and explain how this can be done within their complex system for privacy management. Fair enough. This being said, though Google should not be denied the right to promote and expand their services (otherwise, they would have to close the shop), let me put it simply:

I may put some of my cooking recipes on Google Keep, I shall never put there any content where I own Intellectual Property Rights. Any 'improvement' or 'adaptation' from Google that would use and modify my IPRed content would be the source of a legal battle that would not end like David vs. Gooliath.

Tags: Innovation