See: Is it possible to share a file publicly through Google Drive API
Using the information above, If I attempt to set the necessary permission for a specific file, I receive the following:
Error calling POST https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files/{somefileid} permissions: (403) Insufficient permissions for this file
This error only occurs for google accounts tied to a google apps for edu setup where the admin has unchecked the option Google Apps -> Settings for Drive -> Share Settings -> Outside this organization: "Allow users to publish files on the web or make them visible to the world as public or unlisted files"
Using the Permission feed works fine otherwise, but ideally I would like to know if there is a way to check for this setting beforehand, instead of catching the 403 exception from the drive service.