Independent School Educators' List (ISED-L): Re: Google Apps in Schools

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Re: Google Apps in Schools

Very well said --- this is a serious challenge=20

Sent from my iPhone
Reynolds-Anthony Harris
C: 612 812 9332

On Sep 19, 2010, at 10:43 AM, Derrel Fincher <derrel.fincher@graded.br> wrot=
e:

> How do you train your developer(s), and what are the contingency plans if
> your main developer gets hit by a bus? My goal has been to move all of our=

> systems to commercial hosted solutions and get rid of all of the homegrown=

> (and labor intensive) tweaks that grew up over the years. Most schools ju=
st
> have a really hard time spending money in order to keep their developers
> up-to-date and I've seen the results when the person who developed a syste=
m
> leaves. Maybe I'm missing something.
> --=20
> Derrel Fincher
> Director of Information and Communication Technology
> Graded - The American School of S=C3=A3o Paulo
> http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 x160
>=20
>=20
> On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Joe Frost
> <Joe.Frost@phoenixchristian.org>wrote:
>=20
>> ZOHO is different, their api is on our site, we shell out only to their
>> applications. All student data, when they click on save, gets
>> immediately uploaded to our school site.
>>=20
>> We've implemented SSL, we've disabled auto-signup so there are no drive
>> by accounts, it's invitation only and locked down, so all the data
>> remains private.
>>=20
>> For our money invested, it was well worth it.
>>=20
>> For the safety of our students and their data - priceless :)
>>=20
>> Thanks,
>> *******
>>=20
>> Joe Frost, MS CIS
>> Director of Technology & Operations
>> Department Chair Technology
>> http://www.phoenixchristian.org
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jason Johnson [mailto:jasonpj@yahoo.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 6:27 AM
>> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Google Apps in Schools
>>=20
>> I found this discussion very interesting because there is a bias
>> expressed against Google when their systems appear to have worked. The
>> person was identified and terminated. If anything this makes me trust
>> them more. Put this in stark contrast to FaceBook, who despite their
>> public professions have a CEO who has admitted (in writing) to accessing
>> data in the same way
>> (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/14/damning-zuckerberg-i.html).
>>=20
>> There are very few systems that make your data unreachable to internal
>> staff and very few companies that could not modify their terms of
>> service to do whatever they want with your data. Especially cloud based
>> services. To get that level of security requires an investment beyond
>> the reach and need of most schools.
>> You bring up Zoho as being different from Google but it has all the same
>> issues, though as a paid service you have a stronger legal foot to stand
>> on in disputes. =46rom the Zoho terms of service:
>>=20
>> "We assure you that the contents of your user account will not be
>> disclosed to anyone and will not be accessible even to employees of Zoho
>> except in circumstances specifically mentioned in this Privacy Policy
>> Statement."
>>=20
>> That means someone has access to all of your data via Zoho (even if you
>> are using local storage and their API). It is likely multiple people,
>> in multiple countries (Just like google), and even if you deleted it now
>> it would remain in their possession, likely for weeks or months.
>>=20
>> This is not to diminish Zoho, Google, or any other cloud service. I
>> think they
>> offer much better security and privacy than most schools can offer
>> internally or even with the help of custom development and consulting,
>> but every system is vulnerable and they are most vulnerable to those who
>> administer them.
>>=20
>> _J
>> ____________________________
>> Jason at jasonpj@yahoo.com
>>=20
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