Google Researcher Program Acceptable Use Policy
Participation in the Google Researcher Program is subject to this Acceptable Use Policy. If you violate the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy, your participation in the Google Researcher Program may be suspended or terminated, and your access may be revoked.
1. Definitions
Capitalized terms not defined in this Section 1 or elsewhere in the application and documentation for the Google Researcher Program have the meaning given them in the Google Terms of Service.
"Approved Research" means the research expressly approved in your application for participation in the Google Researcher Program.
"Authorised Person" means an eligible researcher who has been accepted for participation in the Google Researcher Program, the qualified institutions affiliated with such accepted researchers, and other persons employed by such qualified institutions who are necessary to the conduct of Approved Research.
"Program Access" means access and permissions obtained by you through an approved application to participate in the Google Researcher Program.
"Program Data" means data obtained by you through Program Access.
“You” refers to all eligible researchers who have been accepted for participation in the Google Researcher Program, as well as the qualified institutions to which accepted researchers are affiliated. The terms of this Acceptable Use Policy apply to both individual researchers and the qualified institutions to which they are affiliated.
2. Modification of Acceptable Use Policy
Google reserves the right to change the terms and conditions specified by this Acceptable Use Policy at any time, with or without notice. Your continued participation in the Google Researcher Program, your continued Program Access, and/or any continued access to or use of any Program Data after such changes enter into effect constitutes your agreement to and acceptance of all such changes.
3. Access and Use of Program Data
- Acceptable Use. You agree that you will only use Program Access and Program Data for purposes of Approved Research. Any other Program Access or use of or access to Program Data, including for purposes of research that do not constitute Approved Research, requires additional written approval from Google.
- You may not use Program Access or Program Data for:
- Direct or indirect development of a product
- Research supporting a private interest (e.g. sales of a service or product, or for a purely personal, non-research motivation)
- Discussing the data of individuals who are not public figures, or the non-public data of public figures
- Personal use
- Any conduct that would damage Google services or Google users
- Any abusive, fraudulent, or harmful conduct that would defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten, or otherwise adversely affect the rights of others
- Any conduct that would encourage or promote illegal activity or violation of third party rights
- Any attempt to reverse engineer any Google product, service, or feature
- Any other purpose other than highlighted in 3a. above
- No Data Disclosure.
- Subject to subsection (ii), you will not disclose, reproduce, sell, license or otherwise transfer Program Access or Program Data to any person other than an Authorised Person.
- You may disclose Program Data to a third party if and only as required by applicable law or legal order, provided you notify Google of any such disclosure if you are not prohibited from doing so by legal order.
- Compliance with Law, Third Party Rights, Google Terms of Service, and Service-Specific Terms. You will comply with all applicable law, regulation, and third party rights, including, without limitation, the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation and other laws regarding the import or export of data or software, privacy, and local laws. You will not violate any other terms of service with Google (or its affiliates), including the Terms of Service for the Google service(s) you are accessing, except as expressly permitted in this Acceptable Use Policy.
- Technical and Security Limitations. Your use of Program Access and Program Data is subject to your agreement to abide by the technical limitations (e.g., rate limits) and security requirements for each Google service you access. These technical and security limitations may evolve over the course of the program, and will be provided to you upon successful admittance into the program, where these requirements are applicable. They will at no time prohibit the publication of findings and methodology from research undertaken in the context of this program.
- Data Measures. You warrant, represent, and undertake that you, and your affiliated qualified institution which is the subject of an approved application for participation in the Google Researcher Program:
- Have and comply with a written privacy policy that clearly and accurately describes (a) the Program Data that you will access, collect and store, and (b) how and why you will use and process that Program Data.
- Have and comply with reasonable and appropriate administrative, organizational, technical, and physical controls designed to protect Program Data against accidental, unauthorized, or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, or destruction and to protect against any unauthorized disclosure or access. These controls must be documented and must provide a level of security appropriate to the risk represented by the process and nature of the data to be protected.
- At the time of accepting this Acceptable Use Policy, have no direct knowledge of any local laws that would have or reason to believe that any local laws would have a substantial adverse effect on the guarantees provided for under this Acceptable Use Policy, and you will inform the data exporter (which will pass such notification on to the authority where required) immediately upon learning of any such laws.
- Program Data Retention. You commit to securely storing Program Data only as necessary and proportionate to the conduct of Approved Research, and to establish access controls to any systems that contain Program Data. You will have and comply with a documented retention plan which reflects a commitment that Program Data will not be retained longer than two years from the date of collection or 30 days after leaving this Google Researcher Program–whichever comes first.
- Anti-Circumvention. You agree that you will not circumvent any measures implemented by Google to prevent violations of this policy.