Re: Gmail for students and IMAP

[Joel Rosenblatt <joel () COLUMBIA EDU>]

We are using Google as an optional provider for our Alumni email - you can either do forwarding or get a special google 
account

Our we have gotten complaints from our Alums about the advertising that appears to correspond to the contents of their 
email .. now, we all know that there is
not a little person reading the emails and tacking on the advertising .. but it sure does make some people 
uncomfortable :-)

People do not operate on facts (most people, mostly), they operate on perceptions - We have always given them reasons 
to trust us by our behavior - I guess
Google has not.

In My Humble Opinion

Joel

--On Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:38 AM -0400 "McClenon, Braden" <mcclenbw () ONEONTA EDU> wrote:

> I agree on the statement as far as intent, and I'm not saying anyone is
> purposely making a policy that may appear to have a lot of latitude.
> I'm just saying that if I were one of your users, I could interpret it
> that way.
>
> We all look over Google's policies with a fine tooth comb and say,
> "Hmmm... I wonder what they mean by '"Google maintains and processes
> your Gmail account and its contents to provide the Gmail service to you
> and to improve our services".  Well, one could read "will not read email
> unless necessary in the course of their duties" and ask, well what
> exactly are their duties?  When does reading my email fall in the course
> of their duties?
>
> Simply put, I think if we read the same thing in a Google EULA, we'd
> asked what exactly is meant and scrutinize it.  When it's our own, we
> say "No that's not what we meant, you know that. Come on, it's us, you
> know you can trust us."
>
> Brady McClenon
> Senior Server Administrator
> SUNY Oneonta
> 607-436-3203
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> > [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Willis Marti
> > Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:06 AM
> > To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> > Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Gmail for students and IMAP
> >
> > McClenon, Braden wrote:
> > > "should be kept as private as possible" and "will not read email
> > unless necessary in the course of their duties" don't give me much
> > reassurance of privacy.  Seems like that wording gives a lot of
> > latitude...
> > I disagree. Our rules say much the same. As a state entity, several
> > laws
> > impact our ability to provide privacy. I can't think of a state where
> a
> > public institution of higher education could promise absolute privacy.
> > We also have rules against sysadmins abusing their capabilities. It's
> > worked pretty well over the years. Anecdotally, that serves more to
> > protect the sysadmin from improper requests from administrators.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >  Willlis F. Marti
> >  Director & CISO
> >  Networking and Information Security
> >  Texas A&M University



Joel Rosenblatt, Manager Network & Computer Security
Columbia Information Security Office (CISO)
Columbia University, 612 W 115th Street, NY, NY 10025 / 212 854 3033
http://www.columbia.edu/~joel