CloudsweeperCloudsweeper Terms of Service
Last updated: May 16, 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Cloudsweeper web application ("the App," "Cloudsweeper," "we," "us," or "our"), a research tool operated by the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Computer Science Department in collaboration with the University of Chicago. By creating an account, signing in with Google, or otherwise using the App, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the App.
1. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement to use the App. By using the App you represent that you meet these requirements and that any Google account you connect is one you are authorized to connect.
2. Description of the Service
Cloudsweeper is an academic research tool that helps users browse and re-evaluate files stored in their Google Drive accounts. The App can:
- list files from your Google Drive after you grant access;
- compute machine-learning estimates of the sensitivity and ongoing usefulness of selected files;
- record your decisions and free-text explanations for research purposes, when you opt into a research experiment.
The App is read-only with respect to Google Drive: it does not write to, modify, share, move, or delete any file in your Drive account. Any deletion or organization you wish to perform must be done by you, directly in the Google Drive web interface.
3. Research Context and Consent
The App exists primarily to conduct human-subjects research approved by the UIC Institutional Review Board (IRB). Participation in any specific research experiment is voluntary and requires you to read and accept a separate study-specific consent document before any experiment-related data is collected. You may withdraw from a study at any time by using the Delete my data option in the account menu, or by revoking the App's access to your Google account at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions .
4. Your Google Account and Use of Google APIs
You authenticate to the App using Google Sign-In and grant the App access to your Google Drive via OAuth scopes you explicitly approve. Our access to, use of, storage of, and sharing of data obtained from Google APIs is governed by our Privacy Policy and complies with the Google API Services User Data Policy , including the Limited Use requirements. You may revoke the App's access to your Google account at any time at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions .
5. Acceptable Use
You agree not to:
- attempt to gain unauthorized access to the App, other users' data, or the underlying research infrastructure;
- interfere with, disrupt, or impose an unreasonable load on the App or its underlying services;
- use the App to violate any law or any third party's rights;
- reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code of components we have not made publicly available, except to the extent applicable law expressly permits;
- circumvent rate limits, study controls, or eligibility criteria, including by creating multiple accounts to inflate participation in a study.
6. Compensation
Some studies offered through the App may compensate participants via a third-party platform such as Prolific. Compensation, eligibility, and payment timing are governed by the study-specific consent form and the third-party platform's terms; these Terms do not themselves create any right to compensation.
7. Intellectual Property
The App, including its software, interfaces, and branding, is owned by the UIC research team and its collaborators and is provided to you under a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license solely for the purpose of using the App as described in these Terms. You retain all ownership of your Google Drive contents; nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership of your files or other Google account data to us.
8. Disclaimer of Warranties
The App is provided "as is" and "as available" for research purposes, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement. Sensitivity and usefulness classifications produced by the App are machine-learning estimates intended to support your own decision-making; they are not authoritative judgments and may be incorrect. You are solely responsible for any decision you make about your files, including any decision to delete them.
9. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will the App's operators, their respective institutions, or any of their employees be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, files, profits, or goodwill arising out of or in connection with your use of the App. The total aggregate liability of the App's operators arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the App will not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100.00).
10. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your access to the App at any time, with or without notice, including if we believe you have violated these Terms or if the underlying research study has concluded. You may stop using the App at any time by using the Delete my data option in the account menu. Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 survive termination.
11. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes we will update the "last updated" date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the App after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
12. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the App will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
13. Contact
Questions about these Terms may be sent to Chris Kanich at ckanich@uic.edu.