Google Reviews

I’ve finally found a review site without an indemnity clause (TripAdvisor, Yelp, Goodreads and Amazon have indemnification clauses in their Terms of Service), and it’s Google Reviews. Actually, they do have an indemnification clause in their Terms of Service, but only for business use:

If you are using our Services on behalf of a business, that business accepts these terms. It will hold harmless and indemnify Google and its affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from any claim, suit or action arising from or related to the use of the Services or violation of these terms, including any liability or expense arising from claims, losses, damages, suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees.

While I’m not an avid reviewer, sometimes I like to give a shout out to my favorite places or complain about that cold cup of coffee, and now you’ll see that in my slightly more relevant Google profile. I’ve been reluctant (not “reticent”) to use my Google account unnecessarily because it’s not obvious to me what’s public (their ToS section on how they use your profile info doesn’t help), and I get enough spam. But the reviews are conveniently linked with Google Maps and I find myself reading them more and more (Apple Maps seems to have a deal with Yelp, which by the way has the worst indemnification clause, covering anyone associated with the company and their grandmother). So now, time to give five stars to my local cat cafe…