Don't Cloud SFU Data

If we want to discourage users to forward SFU emails to a cloud account, then we should provide easy to follow instructions on how to setup their SFU account on their smartphones and desktop email clients. AND post those instructions at a prominent location (ie. within SFU Connect and besides the "forward all emails" setting.)

For iPhone users, we might want to post a configuration profile for setting up SFU Connect on their phone. With the config profile, it's only a few touches to get Mail, Calendar and Address Book setup on an iOS device.

The only way for users for follow the guideline is to make it easy for users to make it work.

In terms of actually using the Briefcase as a way of storing documents:
- for the most part, it's useful. It does feel like an extra step to have to go through the web interface to access everything.

Has there been consideration of direct connection for on-campus machines so that the briefcase would function more like a shared server file folder?

For mobile and so forth, briefcase is a relatively good way to go, but hopefully the improvements alluded to above come sooner than later so as to make the experience more user-friendly.

Lastly, using the Connect system is exceptionally difficult given the low quota (5GB) allocated by default. While IT Services can increase this with good reason, many staff don't know it is possible. You can fill 5 GB in only a few months, just with email and attachments. Using the Briefcase diligently would put a lot of strain on this (I'd prefer this route, but we need more realistic quotas if we are to store documents in this way).

Many of us participate in collaborative projects that include many non-SFU participants and rely heavily on services like Google Docs, Dropbox, Doodle, etc. Do the shared documents and other content that is generated as part of this activity fall within the scope of "SFU documents"?

Many years ago, I tried using SFU Webmail. I gave up because SPAM filtering was non-existent and forward all my email to Gmail. I looked at my SFU Connect account and over half of my messages are still SPAM. These are automatically filtered out when the email is forwarded to Gmail.

SO.... if you want me to use SFU Connect, you need to improve SPAM filtering so that I'm not wasting my days deleting junk.

I also tried to "replicate" my Gmail experience without much success. For example, there doesn't appear to be simple way to "archive" messages from my in-box to multiple folders. For example, in Gmail, I simply add several labels to a message and then archive it so that it doesn't appear in my active inbox.

Looks like well worth wider circulation, but can we first add detailed help on how users can set up viable alternatives to clouding?
Which leads to a question from a non-techie: With iPhone and iPad apparently using iCloud, what other way IS there to update and sync these devices without exposing any SFU info they contain?
For example, I have for years used "Documents to Go" to store volumes of SFU documents that would overwhelm Briefcase. And that would be re-clouded every time I sync my devices? (At least once a week.) Is that now not recommended? And isn't it too late to fix?

I'm curious what your perspective would be on whether or not instructors should be using third-party, cloud-based tools as classroom response systems (e.g. Top Hat Monacle or PollEverywhere). Individual instructors and departments are experimenting with these tools and tend to require SFU students to register with an SFU email account. Many use these tools to assess students' participation. Similarly, many instructors are experimenting with social media (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) to offer opportunities for interaction in their course. Where is the boundary, on your view and under FIPPA, between sharing personal information and engaging in public, educational discourse with students?

Three questions:
-What constitutes personal data? A scientific paper I'm working on? Photos from a group meeting? Music? etc.
-How do you propose we transfer moderately large files to external parties? Say it's 100Mb. Dropbox is excellent for this and I haven't seen any SFU service that could replace it.
-How do you propose we share moderately large files within a lab or group, across multiple platforms (Mac, PC, Linux, iOS, Android)? Zimbra briefcase does not cut it.

I'm sure you know that if you want compliance, you need to offer real alternatives.

I have heard, from an SFU faculty member, that https://www.toofast.ca/ is Canada-friendly. TooFast is a free assessment summary tool (survey). TooFast is developed by a consortium of three Canadian post secondaries. There might be other things of this sort out there that it would be useful for us to share with each other as we come across them -- in addition to working on getting in-house solutions that work better.

I've recently discovered the mobile interface for SFUconnect for my iphone and it's pretty good. Trying to use any connect services without switching to the mobile interface is agony, though. :-)

My compromise with Evernote is to use local-only notebooks for internal, non-public SFU data. Catch is one has to copy and paste, not forward via e-mail. But at least my interface for notes is consistent on my laptop across the sensitive and non-sensitive materials. Anything I think I might need to look up away from my desk I'm putting in SFU Connect's document feature but am finding it time consuming so being selective.

Lynda Williams, Learning Technology Analyst, SFU.

Part of the reason that I think there aren't more Canadian Cloud Services is that there aren't widely publicized equivalents of Amazon EC2 and similar in Canada. At FluidSurveys, we had to largely build our own software infrastructure to make a lot of things possible that would've otherwise been a lot easier had we gone with Amazon or Google App Engine. With that said, iWeb and some other companies are starting to offer some services in this area - as the existence of some of these services increases, more companies will start to provide services on servers hosted in Canada.

If we're expected to use our SFU email account for SFU business, then
it would seem that SFU should give us decent email service. IMO the zimbra
interface is terrible, spam filtering is somewhere between weak and nonexistent,
and service is spotty.

Again SFU administration creating rules to stifle innovation and efficiency at SFU.

Maybe SFU should consider hosting something for themselves then. Maybe something along the lines of OwnCloud would work, though I'm not sure how ready it is for prime time yet.
And hey, storage is cheap, so why not do some of it locally?

The University of Alberta uses Google mail exclusively for their email. That's right, they don't do email themselves, they let Google do it. See http://www.vpit.ualberta.ca/email/ . If our users need the cloud, why don't we follow the U of A example rather than letting privacy laws get in the way of getting work done?

Here is a "DropBox" Type of solution that SFU can use once the product is "Gold" We can host this type of service if we have funding etc.

While at the VMware conference this year, VMware announced a new product they are working on.

http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2011/08/vmworld-2011-tech-peview-vmware-project-octopus.html

Where your data actually resides can be difficult to know. There's a local company - Bits Republic Technologies (http://www.bitsrepublic.com/) whose offices are actually on the SFU campus - that offers 'cloud storage'. Sounds like a Canadian solution, right? Well, they don't actually host the data... they contract with Amazon - so the servers are in the US.

I thought it would be helpful to provide some general information and observations about the legislated privacy rules under which SFU must operate. The following 9 points offer context for some of the comments posted here about Jays draft message:

1) B.C.'s privacy law applies to publicly funded bodies including SFU.

2) One purpose of the law is to protect personal privacy by preventing the unauthorized collection, use or disclosure of personal information by public bodies.

3) The law applies to all records in the custody or under the control of SFU with limited exceptions. For example, it does not apply to a record containing teaching materials or research information of: (i) a faculty member of a post-secondary educational body, (ii) a teaching assistant or research assistant employed at a post-secondary educational body, or (iii) other persons teaching or carrying out research at a post-secondary educational body.

4) The protection of privacy requirements and restrictions established by law apply to (a) the employees, officers and directors of SFU, and (b) in the case of a service provider hired by SFU, all employees and associates of the service provider.

5) SFU must by law protect personal information in its custody or under its control by making reasonable security arrangements against such risks as unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure or disposal. One way we do this is by communicating about our legislated privacy obligations and educating the university community about privacy issues that arise related to our use of information technology. The CIOs proposed message to the SFU community will help us achieve our duty to protect personal information by preventing its unauthorized disclosure, which is in keeping with the spirit, intent and letter of the law.

6) Protection includes the requirement that personal information must be stored and accessed only in Canada. B.C. is the only jurisdiction in Canada with this legislated requirement.

7) A SFU employee, officer or director or a service provider who has access, whether authorized or unauthorized, to personal information in the custody or control of SFU, must not disclose that information except as authorized under the privacy law.

8) SFU may disclose personal information in its custody or under its control only as permitted under the privacy law. The situations when we are authorized to disclose personal information inside and outside Canada are prescribed in very limited and specific terms. That permission does not include using an alternate email service on the grounds that SFU Connect is imperfect or for reasons of personal convenience or preference. SFU Connect may not be perfect but it offers a very important advantage over other email services it allows SFU employees to communicate using a tool that also enables them to comply with their legal responsibility to store and access personal information only in Canada.

9) A person who contravenes the privacy law by way of unauthorized disclosure commits an offence. A person who commits an offence is liable: (a) in the case of an individual to a fine of up to $2000 and (b) in the case of SFU, to a fine of up to $500,000. This is quite apart from the harm a breach of privacy would do to SFUs reputation as a trusted public custodian of personal information belonging to tens of thousands of individuals including students, employees and alumni.

I dont mean the information above to sound heavy-handed. I offer it here in order that we better know and understand the legislated environment in which we operate and the potential consequences for our employer and us. Whether we like or dislike some of the laws current privacy provisions, these are the rules of law under which we live and abide as individual and corporate citizens.

I think this is a timely message about an important issue affecting a broad cross-section of the University. It is relevant, in particular, because the B.C. Legislative Assembly, on October 25, 2011, passed amendments to the "Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act," which became law on November 14th. Those amendments reaffirm a public body's protection of privacy obligations as described in an earlier post, including the requirement that personal information under SFU's custody or control be stored and accessed only in Canada. This despite the fact that during the public consultation phase various stakeholders asked the B.C. Government to change that very provision to make it more flexible. It decided not to do so. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, this is a matter that will continue to confront all public bodies in B.C. The CIO's message is a helpful step in raising awareness within the University community and starting a discussion about alternative strategies. Thank you, Jay.

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this might be of interest,
Google has a new unified privacy policy for all their services, set to go into use March 1 2012: http://www.google.ca/intl/en/policies/ and http://www.google.ca/intl/en/policies/privacy/preview/

A relevant quote: "Google processes personal information on our servers in many countries around the world. We may process your personal information on a server located outside the country where you live."

What guarantee is there that email or files sent through SFU-approved services are only ever stored in Canada? I was under the impression that, for instance, email could potentially be routed through servers not in Canada (and thus copied by those servers)? For instance, if I send email from a laptop at a conference in the US using SFU Connect, how do you know that a copy is not saved locally?

Also, web search engines, like Google and Bing, save copies of web pages. Is it necessary to prevent SFU web pages from being indexed?

When you advise to not synchronize devices (e.g., iphone) "through iCloud, now used by default by iTunes" I take it that synchronizing devices through iTunes, but not through iCloud, is fine? My understanding is that iCloud is only an option if your operating system is Lion, so those with older MAC OS should be fine to synchronize with iTunes because iCloud is not in operation.