careerskk - 11:19 am on Jun 7, 2012 (gmt 0)

Hi, Just I found the below paragraph in google TOS page :
Google's Terms of Service do not allow the sending of automated queries of any sort to our system without express permission in advance from Google. Sending automated queries absorbs resources and includes using any software (such as WebPosition Gold™) to send automated queries to Google to determine how a website or webpage ranks in Google search results for various queries.
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Does this mean keyword research tools relying on adwords/google search data are violating TOS? Or they do this way by getting prior permission from google?

Doesn't this put the users of these softwares at risk as well? Please can you help me.