Tech Forum

I am considering using email to distribute branch presidency, PEC, and branch council minutes to members of the branch presidency for review. We live many miles from each other, and this would save time in getting the minutes approved with action items identified. I just need to know if this is contrary to the information security policy of the church. I know we should not use email for sensitive issues such as disciplinary councils, but did not know for sure if meeting minutes were also in that category. If need be, we can not include information that would identify a person by name. For instance, we could include initials or callings instead of names.

Interested to know if others are sharing notes/minutes by email.

I convert all my minutes to PDF and password protect them. The password changes when a member of the relevant council turns over. I circulate the minutes by email. Certain sensitive matters are not addressed in the minutes.

mlh78 wrote:I convert all my minutes to PDF and password protect them. The password changes when a member of the relevant council turns over.

I believe it's fairly easy to strip passwords out of PDFs.

russellhltn wrote:I believe it's fairly easy to strip passwords out of PDFs.

I think the security has improved, but I am not a tech guy. In any event, I am trying to provide at least the same level of virtual protection that a clerk's file cabinet offers: protection against inadvertent discovery and curiosity; not protection against someone determined to break in.

For what its worth, a would be hacker's eyes would glaze over from reading about home teaching, holding family home evening, etc, before he got to the "juicy" stuff

Thanks for the ideas. I had not considered password protecting the pdf files. That will work, I think. I will also try to avoid including personally identifiable information in the minutes/notes. Instead of using a name, I will use the initials or the person's calling acronym. For example, instead of saying Jane Doe is to be sustained as Primary President, I will say JD to be sustained as PP. We'll try that for awhile and see how it works. If I run into problems or have great success, I will post again.