Google received a lot of grief for attempting to apply their standard terms of service to Google Chrome, their new web browser. Google has reacted by modifying the End User License Agreement. Section 11, which used to transfer rights to Google as per the standard Terms of Service, has been modified to read:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.
Kudos to Google for making the change.
Unfortunately, Google has not addressed the same issue with Picasa Web Albums. Even worse, their new release of the Picasa client, version 3.0, now contains the same poor Terms of Service that the Google Chrome browser used. In short, just by installing the Picasa client on your computer, you give Google rights to your images. It’s too bad–I would love to install and play with the Picasa client, but I would prefer not to grant Google “perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free” rights to my images to “promote” their service.