Procon suspends Google’s mining university drive limit

Juiz de Fora (MG) Procon has issued an injunction. Prevents Google from turning off Workspace For Education for unlimited rides of students, staff, and professors at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF). In case of non-compliance with the law, which is only preventive, the tech company will have to pay a fine of R$1 million.

Judgment of 21 June, Determines that Google “will refrain from limiting UFJF users’ bulk storage to 100 terabytes pending the final decision of this administrative process.”. This means that from July on, old and new UFJF users will no longer have limited driving spaces, as any educational institution that has partnered with Google before the end of 2021 will do.

The Procon decision provides: Google avoids reducing cloud space size until at least July 20, when will a settlement hearing be held between the parties. During the period, an attempt will be made to sign a Code of Conduct Regulation (TAC) with the company.

HE TecMundo He spoke with Procon’s inspector Eduardo Floriano in Juiz de Fora and explained that the decision is valid until the end of the process (no date specified) and has repercussions only in the case of UFJF users, as Procon’s competence belongs to the municipality. .

“[…] nothing prevents other bodies […] may adopt similar procedures”

“However, there is nothing to prevent other organizations from adopting similar procedures once they realize the facts,” Floriano emphasizes.

Possible penalties

An inspector indicates that an injunction is temporary, so it does not indicate the end of a process. In the case of Google and the UFJF, the interim decision was taken “because there was a risk”. [extinção] law throughout the process”.

“The process continues with the analysis of the situation and the decision may recognize a breach of consumer rights or litigation,” explains Floriano.

Floriano lists that if Google’s action to terminate unlimited drive is deemed a violation, the company can be penalized under section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act (CDC).

The special section states that the company is subject to the following penalties without any damages of civil or criminal nature:

• traffic ticket;
• product seizure;
• destruction of the product;
• cancellation of registration of the product with the authorized body;
• prohibition of product manufacture;
• suspension of the supply of products or services;
• temporary suspension of activity;
• revocation of the concession or use;
• revocation of an establishment or operating license;
• prohibiting the establishment, business or activity in whole or in part;
• administrative intervention;
• the imposition of counter-propaganda.

Decision

HE TecMundo Procon had access to the injunction that prevented Google from shutting down the UFJF unlimited driver in July. The opinion was signed by Carla de Abreu Marques, director of the Procon de Juiz de Fora’s Office of Investigation of Violation Practices.

In the decision, the administrator agrees with most of the argument presented in the complaint by Paulo Vilela, professor emeritus of the UFJF School of Engineering. The document shows, for example, that Google is encouraging all users to use Workspace for Education without limits, which the company calls the “21st century student backpack.”

Despite accepting that the platform agreement provides for changes in the availability of the service, decision points to Google violating CDC articles recognizing consumer vulnerability.

To end unlimited driving, Google even claimed that there was “an exponential increase in demand for the product and therefore storage” and thus “it was necessary to rethink the Workspace to allow for a balanced distribution of space.” The Procon executive was adamant against this argument, calling it “childish”.

“This is because one of the 10 largest companies in the world dealing with the most advanced algorithms in human history has the ability to precisely predict the situation outlined above and take reasonable measures in line with its policy of promoting unlimited file storage. ”, reads an excerpt from the decision.

The Procon executive argues that Google should limit the storage of new files and not order a reduction in storage capacity for those already using the system. Based on the new 100TB benchmark for each institution, it reinforces that Federal de Juiz de Fora will have to delete 600TB of files as about 700TB is currently occupied by university users.

“Therefore, it is clear that it is a breach of good faith and the legitimate expectations of user-consumers, many of whom currently do not even have conditions to pay for paid storage of files. is currently stored on the drive of the investigated one. [Google]. It is remarkable that today 46.9% of the students of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora take advantage of the places”, written in another passage.

“46.9% of Juiz de Fora Federal University students benefit from quotas”

Because of these arguments, Marques decided to take the injunction against Google, seeing that “files from UFJF users are imminent to be severely suppressed with no indication of how that data will be deleted.”

Deal opportunities

Vilela told TecMundo for filing a complaint against Google in March. He was the manager of one of the platform’s domains at university and is now a consultant for the institution.

“The announcement surprised us because we didn’t think unlimited storage would end one day. Google didn’t inform us about it, and the service didn’t have any asterisks telling us this possibility. And we think the decision was bad because it would affect the entire use of the tool and a vital resource for universities as there is so much data stored in the cloud,” argued the professor at the time.

in a new meeting with TecMundo, Vilela said he was pleased with Procon’s injunction. He also considers the reconciliation meeting to be held on 20 July important.

“In fact, it will be the first meeting we’ve ever had to sit down with Google for a formal discussion as the company has announced its decision. [de acabar com o armazenamento ilimitado] unilaterally and imposingly, without accepting any discussion about it”, says the professor.

The professor argues that it’s up to the tech giant to make a “very generous” offer. In this context, he recalls the concept of “Don’t be bad,” a slogan used by the company as a code of conduct. These terms were used in a letter signed by the brand’s founders in 2004, when Google went public on the US stock exchange.

“Don’t be rude. We firmly believe that in the long run, even if we forgo some short-term gains, we will be better served as shareholders and in all other ways by a company that is doing good for the world.”

Stating that a good offer from Google will be accepted at the meeting at the first stage, Prof.Dr. says that the process can be even more tiring if the company’s attitude does not change.

“In fact, I think this is a process that will not be completely victorious. It’s good for everyone if there are no losers“, it ends.

Other side

in a note TecMundo, Google said it would not comment on the case for now. However, as previously answered, the company reiterates that it announced changes to its Workspace for Education storage policy in February 2021.

After the announcement, the company announced that it “guaranteed support to affected organizations to support them during the model transition and offers tools to support storage management.”

In addition to the 100TB of storage that will be delivered free to all partner education institutions, Google says additional storage will be offered for free (the company didn’t specify the exact amount) for institutions with more than 20,000 active users.