> I see exactly zero basis for his complaint.

> P.S. No, I'm not saying that Google is in the right.

You are, however, clearly saying they are not in the wrong...

I'm not sure that difference matters.

Not at all. He used a service for years, for free. He got what he paid for, in fact he got more than what he paid for.

> I'm not sure that difference matters.

It does. Customers pay money. He is not a customer.

This attitude is exactly the problem - we are selling our data in exchange for a service. If it's value were $0, Google would go bancrupt. So this 'pretend the service is free' thing needs to die because Google has been able to make billions. Clearly they are making a profitable trade. It's basically digital barter

Where there is profitable trade both parties have certain responsibilities.

Personally I stopped using free services everywhere I can because of this legal vacuum leaving me exposed.

Your value of the service is the exact the amount of you are paying, which is zero.

You do not have a say in what Google does with others - in fact others are paying Google so it is clearly that Google's services are valued by them.

You really think someone who is using google drive as a historical video backup service is on the free plan? There is no possible way.

Yes, I absolutely think this is the case.

Here's one of the first sentences of someone who pays money and is locked:

"I'm paying you money for X. I expect X to work"