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GOOGLE has backed down following revelations that it would have rights to any information entered into websites by people using its new internet browser.

A day after the Google Chrome browser was released, a controversial clause in its End User Licence Agreement has been removed because of concerns it breached people's privacy and copyright.

Users who downloaded the free browser on Wednesday were asked to agree to a clause that gave Google a "worldwide … licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly, perform, publicly display and distribute" any information they typed into a website.

The clause also allowed Google to share the information with "other companies, organisations or individuals with whom Google has relationships".

David Vaile, executive director of the cyberspace law and policy centre at the University of NSW, said the clause had "massive privacy and copyright implications".

"On the face of it, this does give Google a licence to do almost anything they want with content you 'submit, post or display' through the browser," he said.

The clause has been changed to allow users to retain copyright.

Rebecca Ward, senior product counsel for Google Chrome, said the company used the same legal terms for all products to "keep things simple for our users". This sometimes meant that "the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don't apply well to the use of that product", she said.

Changes to the agreement would apply retrospectively to people who had already downloaded Chrome.

A Google Australia spokesman said the company took users' privacy seriously.

Source: Theage.com.au