>We are currently using Surveymonkey to conduct regular surveys on
>behalf of the school administration and other school groups. The
>question regarding user anonymity, when accessing Surveymonkey, has
>been raised by concerned faculty worried that there could be a
>"digital trail" linking them to their responses. As a result we are
>exploring other avenues but I was wondering if this situation had
>arisen anywhere else and if so how it had been dealt with.
Perhaps this is a little off topic, but concerns like these I find to be
rather naive. Don't get me wrong, I believe very strongly in privacy and
wish more people asked questions about privacy. I say the concerns are naive
because the extent to which a typical school user on a school-issued
computer on the school's network can be assured that any service/activity is
anonymous is directly related to the extent to which the user trusts the IT
department, period. This is true almost regardless of what service is used.
If the IT department says such-and-such data is not recorded then the user
either needs to accept or not accept the statement based primarily on their
trust of the IT department. I say this because if the IT department issues
the computers and controls the network then the IT department can pretty
much see anything it wants without the vast majority of users having any
clue. Sure, the IT department can talk about SSL and generic URLs and...,
but most of this goes over the typical user's head and is moot if the IT
department controls the computer and the network. For example, even if the
survey system had some bullet proof anonymity-ensuring safeguards, how could
the typical user be sure that the IT department didn't modify a system file
to act as a key logger?
Regarding your specific SurveyMonkey question. If the information being
requested is so sensitive that trusting the IT department is too risky, I
think the best assurance a person could have is if you ask them to complete
the surveys using a generic URL from a home computer from a home Internet
connection. Assuming "home" is not on the school's network, this should
provide a reasonable level of assurance of anonymity. If this is still not
enough, then I think you're stuck with a non-tech means like paper-based
surveys.
Tom Phelan
Director of Technology
Peddie School
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