Re:Why you should not pirate Google’s geo APIs
by reginaldjcooper on Tuesday September 10, 2013 @10:03AM
(#6360051)
Well I think the burden of proof is going to be on you if you are found willfully using the service afterwards. Otherwise you're probably right.
I could as well write whatever ToS on my homepage with "accept" and "not accept" link with whatever terms, and then wait for Google bot to "accept" my terms. Do you think Google would be bound by their "acceptance" in the same way.
It's not like I was using my digital signature or whatever, it's just that someone clicked somewhere.
The burden of proof here is on the "vendor" or software provider. They need to prove that I accepted their terms, not the other way round. That's why many free services require credit card, copy of the ID and physical signature as a proof of identity. The fact that Google decided that this might be too expensive for them to enforce, and that is cheaper to just not do it is their choice.