[SOLVED] Could Google access someone's Google Drive account?

[Dimitri001]

If they wanted to, could they do it? Could they get around the password somehow?

I don't mean whether they built a back door of some sort in, but if they had to get past the password protection.

 

[Newtonius]

Yes and no. No as in they do not actively look at your content on your drive but if you share content from your drive via public url and it is reported enough to warrant a check then google will check the content of your drive. Google is of course governed by the law of the country you reside in so if you are suspected of violating a law in your country regarding your google drive then they will search it to the extent of your local laws.

 

[Dimitri001]

But what about content not shared via public URL, can they get to that?

 

[neojack]

yes they can and they do.
it's in the terms of service.
they own the data and give you access to it for free. how generous.

they use the data mostly for automatic analysis, to make a detailed profile about you and your habits and send you customized adds.

also due to the patriot act, the US government can access the data with a demand. And the cloud provider can't let you know about it.
That's why most of the serious cloud providers use encryption. they don't know what's inside your cloud space and doesn't want to know. If govnmt asks for it, they give the encrypted data because that's all they have.

 

[MrMoore]

yes they can and they do.
it's in the terms of service.
they own the data and give you access to it for free. how generous.

they use the data mostly for automatic analysis, to make a detailed profile about you and your habits and send you customized adds.

also due to the patriot act, the US government can access the data with a demand. And the cloud provider can't let you know about it.
That's why most of the serious cloud providers use encryption. they don't know what's inside your cloud space and doesn't want to know. If govnmt asks for it, they give the encrypted data because that's all they have.

Exactly as above, 99% of the data they look at is used to push ads to you though, unless you're up to no good I wouldnt be concerned in the slightest.

 

[rgd1101]

encrypt your data before using google drive

 

[mdd1963]

You are asking if Google can access your files stored on/within...Google?

Absolutely.

If you'd prefer that did not happen, encrypt it with 7-Zip first.

 

[Encryption+]

Yes as others mentioned above Google can see anything you have on Google drive (and any other google products, search engine etc) and they actively view your data as stated in their terms of service.

If you have something you don't want them to see it's probably best to just store it on your own encrypted drive or drives depending how important it is.

 

[punkncat]

You can absolutely count on having ZERO privacy within the Google environment (or others). It has been well documented that there is a complete lack of privacy within their services.

If you carry a smartphone like anyone else you have no need to worry about this aspect. It's already a done deal.

 

[Dean0919]

There is no such a thing as privacy when it comes to such big companies like Google or Facebook. Good thing is, if you didn't break law or did something really bad, nothing to worry. As others said, if you want to save something in your Google Drive that even Google couldn't see it, best way is to encrypt it with strong password and then put it in your Google Drive.

 

[Alunny]

Any data you upload to the internet to be hosted by someone else will be accessible by that host and possibly also others. Definitely read the terms of service and consider buying an external or internal hard drive instead if you want privacy, or backing up onto CDs/DVDs.