The Mountain View giant has updated its terms of service, introducing the minimum age for creating an account and explaining why it might close it
In these hours, Google users are receiving an email message with which they are warned of a change to the terms of service that will come into force starting next March 31. This is a periodic update that the Mountain View giant puts in place to "keep up with the times" what we might call its internal rules.
In fact, going to analyze what are the Google terms of service, we find that they are a set of rules and principles that govern the use of Big G services by users and the way in which Google itself "provides" the services. The terms of service of any software or platform are regularly ignored by users, when instead they should be read carefully: from the terms you can understand how to use a platform, what you can do and what, instead, you can not do at all. In short, as mentioned, they are Google's internal laws and, starting from March 31, they will change in a rather important way.
Google Terms of Service: what changes from March 31, 2020
As mentioned, in the new version of Google's Terms of Service there are several new features compared to the one in force today. For example, Google now indicates the minimum age to open an account in full autonomy (in Italy you have to be at least 14 years old, as required by the GDPR) and provides some clarifications on how to use Family Link in case you have to open a profile for a person with an age lower than that established by the conditions.
Google has then specified which are the services to which the terms apply, adding to the list also Google Chrome, Google Chrome OS and Google Drive. The Mountain View giant also provided web addresses where you can check out additional terms of service for some specific services. These are, in this case, rules that apply to Google Chrome rather than Google Maps, and not to the entire ecosystem.
Big G then explained what users should expect from the group's companies (the reasons, for example, that can lead to the closure of a service); what Google expects from users (specifying the basic rules of conduct that every Internet user should adopt); and how user-created content (e.g., files stored in the cloud or similar) is treated.
In the new Google Terms of Service, moreover, the reasons that could lead the Californian company to remove user content or close an account have been set out more simply and clearly. A link to file an appeal procedure has also been added, in case the user believes that his profile has been closed illegitimately. No changes, finally, on the privacy front: the data management policy has remained unchanged.