Re: Google announces privacy changes, no opt out for users

[Tim Doty <tdoty () MST EDU>]

On Wed, 2012-01-25 at 20:11 -0500, Bradley, Stephen W. Mr. wrote:
> Amazing, Google just sent me their explanation in the notification e-mail.

Yeah... the explanation is that they reduced the privacy policy to one.
A deep explanation that certainly addresses the privacy issues. Two
links later I was able to browse the actual privacy policy which
essentially gives them carte blanch to do whatever they please with your
personal information (developing a new 'service' is one of the catch all
excuses given).

About the only thing I saw that they restricted themselves on was full
sharing with doubleclick is supposed to be opt-in only. Nice if true,
but completely ignores the widespread, and not mentioned whatsoever in
the privacy policy, google-analytics.

> Nice of them right after I changed my default engine to Duck Duck Go.

Thanks to the pointers on this list I have switched now.

Another thing that troubles me is that virustotal has been increasingly
requiring javascript for the site to function. This has always bothered
me because there is no functionality on the site that requires
javascript, they just chose to implement it that way. And in the latest
revision it won't work unless you allow google.com.

I'm aware of some alternatives, but I'm curious about reputation. What
do people here use other than virustotal?

Tim Doty


> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [SECURITY () listserv educause edu] On Behalf Of Josh Richard 
> [jrichar4 () D UMN EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 2:52 PM
> To: SECURITY () listserv educause edu
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Google announces privacy changes, no opt out for users
>
> On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 11:19 AM, Maria Peluso <mpb () umn edu> wrote:
> > Is anyone doing or considering setting desktop images\installations to
> > clear browser cache and or cookies on logout?  I've been thinking of
> > this for a while, but there will be a slow down for users.
>
> Not us.  And it seems like a losing battle given the reach of the
> source of the problem coupled with the lack of control of end devices.
>  The closest we get currently are VDI instances that provide a clean
> slate windows instance for every disjoint login.
>
> The elephant: For institutions that have Google services currently,
> does anyone know if the contracts as negotiated will allow this
> automated profile to be created for staff, faculty and students?  If
> so, what responsibility does this community have in regards to the
> impact of that imposition?
>
> Thanks,
> Josh
>
> --
> Josh Richard
> Information Technology Systems & Services
> University of Minnesota Duluth