Tech Forum

A bishop asked me as to the guidelines for giving the password on the wireless internet in the ward buildings. Couldn't answer. I thought it was a good question as most of the members would like to get on the system for various reasons.

fwanderson wrote:A bishop asked me as to the guidelines for giving the password on the wireless internet in the ward buildings. Couldn't answer. I thought it was a good question as most of the members would like to get on the system for various reasons.

Ultimately that is the stake president's decision. In our stake, I as Stake Technology Specialist made a recommendation to our stake president and he reviewed it, adjusted it slightly, then approved it. Basically, our policy is that the password is given to each bishop, who is instructed to give it out as he sees fit for Church purposes. We define "Church purposes" as administrative or teaching responsibilities -- not personal Internet or email access, even if it may be Church-related.

But I've heard of stakes that are much more stringent than that, and some that are much less restrictive. Some stake presidents retain the decision making at the stake level, and others delegate it to the wards. As I said, it's the stake president's decision.

Please note that at some time in the near future, the security for wireless will change. The password for the wireless itself will be dropped and an LDS Account will be needed to get beyond certain church sites.

It would appear that the Stake President's authority on who has access is temporary.

RussellHltn wrote:It would appear that the Stake President's authority on who has access is temporary.

And, since they have to live with the consequences that so often come back to haunt them, I believe every stake president will be more than happy to have the LDS Account control put into place just as soon as possible. "Later this year" is the hopeful comment I have most recently received from those involved with the effort. And based on when that comment was made, it could be any time now.

Any idea how this will affect administrative computers connected via the WiFi? Will the Clerk or Bishopric have to log in with an LDS Account before transmitting to HQ? Hopefully MLS transmissions will not require a login.

It was reported in the meetinghouse Internet Area Training, that ALL internet connections would require an LDSAccount to connect. That would mean that to send & Recieve in MLS would require the user to enter their LDS Account username and password BEFORE they could do a send and recieve in MLS. HOWEVER there has been NO official word from MLS if this is true.

What I remember hearing is that some church servers could be reached without a login.

fwanderson wrote:A bishop asked me as to the guidelines for giving the password on the wireless internet in the ward buildings. Couldn't answer. I thought it was a good question as most of the members would like to get on the system for various reasons.

For a similar "research project" for our ward, the very most recent info on the immediate future of meetinghouse wireless internet and passwords (hinted at above but now quotable) seems to be here, and while not an official church policy...

Wireless Internet Access in Meetinghouses
Dated 5 aug, 2011: Quoted, in part:
In 2012, members and leaders around the world will be able to connect to meetinghouse Internet via their LDS Account, making it much easier for them to gain access to online Church resources in ward and stake buildings. Personalized access through an LDS Account will also help increase individual accountability for how the Internet is used.

Until then, and as for "official guidelines," I've accessed this page:
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Meetinghouse_wireless_Internet_policies_and_guidelines

Which lists the following document, dated June 2010, and titled:
Wireless Technology Guidelines

On page 4 of that document it lists requirements for a wireless meetinghouse (not for church employees) and the required password, or "security key," and how this may be used, including "maintaining a list of authorized users," changing the key regularly," etc. I don't know of anything official that is more current on passwords, but others may.





https://tech.lds.org/index.php/component/content/article/1-miscellanous/393-wireless-internet-access-in-meetinghouses?format=pdf https://tech.lds.org/index.php/component/content/article/1-miscellanous/393-wireless-internet-access-in-meetinghouses?tmpl=component&print=1&page= https://tech.lds.org/index.php/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=aHR0cDovL3RlY2gubGRzLm9yZy9pbmRleC5waHAvY29tcG9uZW50L2NvbnRlbnQvYXJ0aWNsZS8xLW1pc2NlbGxhbm91cy8zOTMtd2lyZWxlc3MtaW50ZXJuZXQtYWNjZXNzLWluLW1lZXRpbmdob3VzZXM%3D

I know this thread is a little old, but I'm trying to go through all of the ones about the new meetinghouse internet to clarify a couple of things:

Stake presidents will still have control over who can access the internet. This is a requirement of the project, although it will probably not be exist in the pilot.

Certain locations (church sites, etc.) will not require authentication. I'm going to ask others on the project team next week about if or how this will affect MLS and FHC computers. My guess at this point is that MLS will probably not require a login, while FHC computers probably will (guest access will be another feature of the system). I'll follow up next week and make sure this is the case.