Re: Gmail for students and IMAP

[Cal Frye <cjf () CALFRYE COM>]

Jim Dutcher wrote:
> On a related note...especially for schools who host their email
> internally...does your school have as part of its policies, to ensure
> that all email correspondence is kept private? Not subject to
> inspection?

Reading others' email just because I can? That would just be wrong...
My stock answer is something like "There aren't enough hours in the day
for me to be reading your email in my spare time." ;-)

Our policies speak of backups and such, meaning we keep copies of
things, but not that we read the copies any more than we go rummaging
through the originals. We do present a reasonable expectation of privacy.

That said, we have switched to Google Mail, across the board, and we
know that our policies are not enforceable outside of contract law with
Google. It is a calculated risk, and we have an explicit policy which
warns folks of the insecurity of having their data stored in Google
Apps. The costs of dealing with the ever-increasing load of spam made a
strong argument.

Personally, I have a hard time understanding how I can have someone else
do a job for me I used to do, and make a profit on it, while still
overall saving me money. But then again I used to be adjunct faculty, so
I'll grant it's not impossible ;-)

--
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of
Species.
-- Cal Frye, Network Administrator, Oberlin College
   Mudd Library, x.56930 -- CIT will NEVER ask you for your password!

   www.calfrye.com,  www.pitalabs.com

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
 Eleanor Roosevelt.