Use google docs/gmail for church agendas?

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Velska
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Caution with Google Advised

#11

Post by Velska »

I would advise caution with Google. Call me a paranoid, but I wouldn't send a sensitive document as email attachment unencrypted.

With a three-ring binder you can carelessly leave one somewhere, but the data will stay at one place, and to a certain degree it's possible to track where it's been copied.

With and email message/attachment that gets grabbed by someone, who perhaps only wants to display his/her ability as a hacker, and posts the info somewhere public, and you'll never know who has it and where; and this happens fast....

I would also make that distinction between private and sensitive. It's quite easy to make a calendar/document public on Google without intending to do so. Plus with Google making everything so easily searchable it's crazy how easy it is to track info -- even when it's intended private.

Email lists are a different thing. By definition an email address is public, and they get out anyway. It's just unfortunate if the RS ladies spam the ward sisters with makeup and home appliance marketing. It is almost trivial for anybody to come up with a pretty full email list for a ward.

The rule is: if you don't want some tidbit of info out in the wild, don't tell it to anyone outside your bishopric/presidency/family, and even then you should realize that some of their friends will tell others... And, of course, if I'm a member of the bishopric, I must not talk about sensitive cases with my wife.

So call me paranoid.

Cheers,
--velska
ssintay
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#12

Post by ssintay »

I agree with velska.

From a security/sensitivity point of view I am not sure how a google-doc, gmail, hotmail, or email are any different. What is the security/sensitivity difference between sending an agenda as an attachment to 5 people vs sharing it with the same people via Google docs?

The best policy is to not share sensitive information in these formats.

Having said that, I think google-docs can be a great help in preparing non-sensitive agendas for PEC meetings. And for keeping track of many non-sensitive business items.
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zabaki
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#13

Post by zabaki »

I heard that myldsmail was switching over to google apps using their email system instead of the one the church is showing now?

All data then being in the cloud.

Can anyone confirm or deny?
techgy
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#14

Post by techgy »

zabaki wrote:I heard that myldsmail was switching over to google apps using their email system instead of the one the church is showing now?

All data then being in the cloud.

Can anyone confirm or deny?
There's a change in the works that may or may not have been implemented as yet. Missionaries and others who use the LDSMAIL account were to be notified when the change was being implemented. I do not have an account so I cannot give you any other details.
nutterb
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#15

Post by nutterb »

Two words:

Google Wave!

My Elders' Quorum Presidency uses Google Docs to communicate. I advised them to include as little membership information as possible and all is well, so far.

Regarding exporting calendar information and uploading it to Google Calendar, the LUC in the lab has this sentence in its description "Also included in this release is the ability to export calendar events to Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, or any other iCal enabled web calendar." Whereas the Church is planning on facilitating this upload, I wouldn't feel bad about doing it myself (for personal use). However, I would consider maintaining a Google Calendar for ward use to be outside the scope of Church policy.
RossEvans
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#16

Post by RossEvans »

nutterb wrote:Regarding exporting calendar information and uploading it to Google Calendar, the LUC in the lab has this sentence in its description "Also included in this release is the ability to export calendar events to Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, or any other iCal enabled web calendar." Whereas the Church is planning on facilitating this upload, I wouldn't feel bad about doing it myself (for personal use). However, I would consider maintaining a Google Calendar for ward use to be outside the scope of Church policy.

I think it clearly (and unfortunately) violates current policy.

(The policy I am thinking about is not maintaining a Google Calendar for use by bishoprics, etc, but specifically downloading the Church calendar from LUWS and uploading it to Google Calendar.)

I, too, noticed that quoted sentence above and inquired about it through feedback, noting the discrepancy with policy. I was advised that it was under review. But nothing has changed yet, and the labs app has not been released.
MorettiDP
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#17

Post by MorettiDP »

Techgy wrote:There's a change in the works that may or may not have been implemented as yet. Missionaries and others who use the LDSMAIL account were to be notified when the change was being implemented. I do not have an account so I cannot give you any other details.

After I know notices about MyLDSMail going to Google Apps, I try to find some Church domains at the service.

I can find Google Accounts setups to the following Church domains:

I can imagine some of these services will migrate to Google Apps a day in the future, and I can imagine all Google Apps features will be available, including callendar, no only e-mail.
kisaac
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does policy = protection?

#18

Post by kisaac »

nutterb wrote: However, I would consider maintaining a Google Calendar for ward use to be outside the scope of Church policy.
It is my hope that church policy is carefully crafted to protect us from ourselves, but there are some problems.

Any ward member with LUWS access can export LUWS calendar data to google calendar, or directory data to private lists, with the best of intentions, not fully understanding all the church policies he just violated or fully understanding the IT implications of such an action.

Nothing puts this well-meaning "ward member" under the same charge that the LUWS administrator is under as he manages the LUWS website...
RossEvans
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#19

Post by RossEvans »

kisaac wrote:Any ward member with LUWS access can export LUWS calendar data to google calendar, or directory data to private lists, with the best of intentions, not fully understanding all the church policies he just violated or fully understanding the IT implications of such an action.

Nothing puts this well-meaning "ward member" under the same charge that the LUWS administrator is under as he manages the LUWS website...

Even rank-and-file members are governed by the Rights and Use Informationto which they covenant when using LUWS. That document says in relevant part:
You may not post material from this site on another web site or on a computer network without our permission.

In practice, many or most never read the terms. But they are binding.

As I mentioned above, the developments at the labs site hint that the policy may change in the future to allow uploading to Google Calendar, but that is certainly not the case yet.
kisaac
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#20

Post by kisaac »

boomerbubba wrote:Even rank-and-file members are governed by the Rights and Use Informationto which they covenant when using LUWS.
Thank you ...I stand corrected, we all are indeed bound by policy-even if we don't realize it, and understand why.
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