p2pnet - rss feed: Google privacy fears at Canadian school
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, is in the news again.
Its first claim to fame came when principal Fred Gilbert voiced his fears that WiFi might pose a health risk, “particularly to young people”.
Then it sanctioned an ad agency inspired promotional ‘YaleShmale’ site which, “used one half of the US Cheney / Bush presidency to suggest George W. may not be, well, you know, all that smart (Cough, cough),” p2pnet posted
Now staff members say they have serious privacy concerns because of the school’s use of Google Apps.
“The [university] did this on the cheap,” the Globe & Mail has Tom Puk, past president of Lakehead’s faculty association, which filed a grievance against Lakehead administration, saying.
What’s the problem?
Google, “spotlighted the university as one of the first to adopt its software model of the future,” and today Michael Pawlowski, Lakehead’s vice-president of administration and finance, “boasts the move was the right thing for Lakehead, saving it hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual operating costs,” says the story.
But the faculty, “was told not to transmit any private data over the system, including student marks,” says the Globe & Mail.
The US Patriot Act allows authorities to secretly view personal data held by US organizations and is, “at odds with Canada’s privacy laws, which require organizations to protect private information and inform individuals when their data has been shared.”
US intelligence officials, “can scan documents, pick out certain words and create profiles of the authors - a frightening challenge to academic freedom,” Puk says,” the story states.
“For instance, a Lakehead researcher with a Middle Eastern name, researching anthrax or nuclear energy, might find himself denied entry to the United States without ever knowing why,” it has him saying. “You would have no idea what they are up to with your information until, perhaps, it is too late. We don’t want to be subject to laws of the Patriot Act.”
Google claims it has a, “strong track record in regard to protecting customers’ data,” according to the Globe & Mail.
But Google was the only company to completely fail an important six-month investigation into privacy practices employed by key Net-based firms, last year.
Puk is calling for a truly private in-house system which doesn’t let third parties see emails.
Also See:
health risk - Cell phone, brain tumour link, March 31, 2006
‘YaleShmale’ site - Canadian school promo mocks Bush, August 30, 2006
Globe & Mail - Patriot Act haunts Google service, March 24, 2008
completely fail - Google flunks major privacy study, June 11, 2007
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