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0 pointsAdaptive9y ago0 comments

I agree fully on the lame way Google rolls out (or fails to roll out) key features for Google Apps. Even when features do roll out, they are sometimes incomplete, for example, you can't set up Google Music family accounts with Google Apps accounts. Dumb. I like Google Music but Spotify is easier for me to use with my family's various google apps accounts.

However, there is one VERY important difference: data ownership and privacy. Google Apps for Work (and edu) accounts, which I use for various organizations as well as even for my own personal, single-user domain, have much better data ownership and privacy terms:

See: https://support.google.com/work/answer/6056650?hl=en

    Does Google use my organization’s data in Google Apps
    services or Cloud Platform for advertising purposes?

    No. There are no ads in Google Apps Services or Google Cloud
    Platform, and we have no plans to change this in the future.
    We do not scan for advertising purposes in Gmail or other
    Google Apps services. Google does not collect or use data in
    Google Apps services for advertising purposes.

    The process is different for our free offerings and the
    consumer space. For information on our free consumer
    products, be sure to check Google's Privacy and Terms page
    for more consumer tools and information relating to consumer
    privacy.

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3 comments · 2 top-level

jakebasile9y ago· 1 in thread

Yeah, Apps accounts have much different privacy terms and this is likely the reason for some of their exclusions such as Google Now email cards but it cannot logically explain why other things don't work like Play Music family plans.

Still, if I had the choice I'd opt in to the standard privacy policy in an instant. I understand some people's concerns about Google information gathering but it's not a concern of mine. I just want things to work.

dragonwriter9y ago

Google play family plans don't work because Apps is expressly designed for non-family organizations. Ideally, they would have organizational plans, but the parameters for that are different.

Features that aren't relevant to the intended target market may be useful to people making atypical uses, but it's quite likely not commercially sensible to bother with them, and building a robust separate G Suite for Personal Domains offering that takes the right mix of features of the existing consumer and organizational offerings may itself not serve enough of a market to be worth the effort.

bad_user9y ago

Those privacy terms apply only for the included apps. But when you search on Google, your searches get mined just like everybody else ;-)

Just like the parent, I once owned a Google Apps account and moved off it because of the lock-in effect. Now I have a personal account and no longer use Gmail at all. So I don't care about Gmail's privacy terms, because it no longer applies to me.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Does Google use my organization’s data in Google Apps services or Cloud Platform for advertising purposes? No. There are no ads in Google Apps Services or Google Cloud Platform, and we have no plans to change this in the future. We do not scan for advertising purposes in Gmail or other Google Apps services. Google does not collect or use data in Google Apps services for advertising purposes. The process is different for our free offerings and the consumer space. For information on our free consumer products, be sure to check Google's Privacy and Terms page for more consumer tools and information relating to consumer privacy.