It’s difficult to track what happens with your shared documents as anyone with editing permissions can easily share the document with anyone else. However, that presents even more privacy risks because these documents lack some basic security measures. Google Drive allows you to quickly give viewing, editing or commenting permissions to your friends and colleagues. You have little control over files you shared with others They also state that, by using Google services, you agree to share your data with unspecified third parties that “Google works with.” Such vague statements leave a lot of freedom for interpretation and show that what’s stored on Google Drive is essentially Google’s property.ģ.

Google’s privacy agreement also states that they have a worldwide license to “use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute” your documents uploaded on Google Drive. We recommend looking for Google Maps alternatives and always closely inspecting the terms and conditions. Google also has a wide range of products that might seriously compromise your online privacy. In their privacy statement, they admit that your documents could be accessed by Google in special circumstances, for example, if required by law enforcement agencies. What if a project you’ve been working on for months is suddenly irretrievably deleted?Īlthough Google Drive encrypts your files, they are still not completely private.

The company says that it scans and analyzes your files to improve their services and provide you with “personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection.” However, it appears that Google bots that crawl your documents have been trained to look for ‘objectionable’ content and then delete it without further explanation. Would you like such sensitive information to influence what’s served to you online and be made public? Some files you store on Google Drive might be very personal. Any information collected about you is used to create your ‘user profile’ and show you personalized Google search results or Google ads.

Google admits to scanning all the documents you upload on your Drive. It isn’t the best option for people who care about their privacy and here’s why: 1. Why should you look for Google Drive alternatives?

Google drive vs onedrive privacy