Last month, Google announced an updated policy for its cloud storage service, Google Drive. Under the new policy, the tech giant can automatically flag and restrict access to the files that violate its abuse policies. Now, it appears that Google still has some work to do on the new feature as the AI system that recognises the suspicious content seems to be flagging wrong files. According to a report by The Register, Google Drive is revoking access to files that are innocuous.
As per a Twitter post by Dr. Emily Dolson, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, the tech giant even flagged a text file that contained just a single numeric character. As reported by The Register, Google didn’t even offer a way to request a review of the document to revoke the decision despite the company claiming that users can request a review. However, Google engineer Misha Brukman replied on Dolson’s Tweet assuring to resolve the issue.
TechRadar claims that Google provided a statement on the incident where it agreed that the issue impacted a small number of Drive files and it has corrected all known cases where files were incorrectly flagged for violating Google’s Copyright Infringement policy.
What is the new Google Drive policy
When a Google Drive file is identified as violating Google’s Terms of Service or program policies, it may be restricted. When it’s restricted, you may see a flag next to the filename, you won’t be able to share it, and your file will no longer be publicly accessible, even to people who have the link.
The owner of the item in Google Drive will receive an email notifying them of the action taken, and alerting them of how to request a review of the restriction if they think it is a mistake. For items in shared drives, the shared drive manager will receive the notification
.