It seems that file hosting service Dropbox can’t take a break from bad press patterns of the last few weeks. After a breach of security the firm upset the apple cart again last week when they announced a change in Terms and Conditions last Friday, which they received lots of negative comments for. The company updated the original news post on their blog twice in order to clarify the issue.
Basically, the first version of the post said that a user grants Dropbox “worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works of, perform, or publicly display that stuff.”
A lot of Dropbox users expressed their concern over the change in policy on the Dropbox website. Some even claim that the company could sell all their users’ files to third parties legally.
After a few deleted accounts, the policy was updated yesterday, and it now reads: “We sometimes need your permission to do what you ask us to do with your stuff (for example, hosting, making public, or sharing your files). By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service. This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services. You must ensure you have the rights you need to grant us that permission.”
Users have been posting negative comments on Dropbox’s blog pages, which the company has been trying hard to address.
A Dropbox spokesman wrote: “Some of you have written us with very understandable concerns about the legal-sounding parts. In particular, our new TOS talks about the licenses we need to run Dropbox. We want to be 100 percent clear that you own what you put in your Dropbox. We don’t own your stuff. And the license you give us is really limited. It only allows us to provide the service to you. Nothing else.”
Has this statement eased your worries with the cloud based storage solution?
