AdWords API Re: Caching Proxy for Adwords API

I would imagine this offers some kind of safe harbor, being that it's
being actively promoted by Google employees.

I had a similar question about sample code. I wondered out loud about
the legality of posting sample code. Can you post a few snippets on a
board and not violate the terms? Can you write a book and not violate
the terms?

Another Google-employee API evangelist responded with the usual "I am
not a lawyer" response, but noted that he runs a Wiki expressly for the
purpose of posting sample code.

I suppose the fact that it's run by a Google employee offers some sort
of safe harbor. It's unclear to me what, if any, Google sponsorship
there is of either of these projects. (The open-source PHP API and the
sample code Wiki.) Are these projects done on the employee's own
initiative, completely outside of Google? Or are these done on the
"ressearch time" that Google employees are given to do research in
basically whatever field they'd like?

The whole concept of these blogs, etc. run by employees but outside of
the corporate structure just blows my mind. Sure, everybody's doing it.
At some point, there will be some big legal case involving this. I
don't think I want to decide in advance how the courts may rule.
Somebody is going to do something that gets them in trouble. They are
going to get sued, and then they are going to say, "but I relied on
this employee's outside-the-corporate structure blog". Said employee
will or will not have been terminated, which will be irrelevant, since
the company is just going to say "here are the terms you agreed to,
see, you violated them, no matter what our employee said or did outside
of the company."

It will be "interesting", to say the least. Not so interesting that I
want to be in the middle of it.

My non-lawyerly read of the Terms of Services tells me "don't do it."
I'd like to help out. I'd like to see other people share. But until
Google comes up with some sensible Terms of Service, I'm not going to
jeopardize my account by doing so. And I doubt many others will,
either.

I'd hate to be an Adwords API Evangelist. I don't think I could dodge
that many rocks thrown by the natives.