Google Deploys a Single, Centralized Terms of Use for APIs

by Kin Lane on 12/12/2011

Google has made another step towards a more common API infrastructure in line with their API Discovery Service, API Explorer, and API Console by launching a single terms of service for all Google APIs.

Google has rewritten their terms from the ground up with the goal of making them easier to understand for application developers.

At the moment it seems as though most of the APIs that use the central terms of service are content and data related APIs, like Google Tasks, Google Moderator, Google Charts and Blogger.

While more complex APIs like Youtube, Google Analytics, Google Adwords and Google Latitude still use their own terms of service. Over time, more APIs will be migrated to the new, centralized terms of service format.

With almost 100 APIs now, it makes sense for Google to reduce the complexity of terms of use across APIs, increasing the chances a developer will “legally” build an application or business around one or multiple Google APIs.

Google provides tools for developers to easily discover, explore their APIs, while also providing centralized management of billing, usage reporting and terms of use. I predict we will see other API service providers offering tools for managing terms of use, branding and other legal aspects of API management in 2012.