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Re:Why should anyone ever use a Google API again? by ChuckMcM on Friday May 27, 2011 @02:36PM (#2592561)
I think you can state this in a different way, "Why would I invest in a company which will be killed by Google changing its mind about an API?" I imagine (but it's pure speculation) that folks like YC, other Angels, or early stage VC's should as their due diligence point out this risk and without a reasonable mitigation option pass on funding.

This would 'self correct' folks who weren't doing the extra work.

However for things where there isn't really a credible way to come up with an alternative you are kind of screwed. But then it would become a Google problem if they didn't get API adoption without offering some sort of indemnification in the event they need to take it back.

I presume the 'translation abuse' is people using it to send spam in 141 different languages.

Re:Why should anyone ever use a Google API again? by pfhayes on Friday May 27, 2011 @02:50PM (#2592633)
If the abuse is translating spam, then that's even more surprising - because that's exactly the kind of abuse that Gmail already prevents all the time. It even seems like a great opportunity for Google to gather spam data in all sorts of languages.