[clug] OT: ANU outsourcing email to outlook.com

jm jeffm at ghostgun.com
Mon Jul 22 20:17:07 MDT 2013


I'm surprised universities are allowed to do this. As I thought it would
be covered to some extent by the same rules covering government email
and as you say privacy concerns. Yes, there are people who forward their
email to their private addresses, but this is typically because the
university's email system made life difficult for them in some respect.
At least that's the impression I got from those that I know that do it.
So that will start to happen in droves now.

The main issue that I see though is research that is being funded by
millions of dollars worth of grants and is potentially worth much more
is being sent out of one legal sphere and into another. Even email
between colleagues discussing research is being sent this way. Would
make industrial espionage a lot simple when the university decides to
sent the intelligence straight to you. Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid.

I know one person did raise the spector of the Defence Trade Controls
Act 2012 but it was deemed "that there is no suggestion that the Act
will apply".

Jeff.

On 23/07/13 11:56 AM, Robert Edwards wrote:
> A bigger issue, for me, is the transmission of medical certificates and
> accompanying documentation, some of which contains detailed medical
> information about students seeking special consideration etc. Generally,
> paper copies are scanned on our MFDs and then e-mailed to relevant
> lecturers etc. - straight out of the country and back again. I believe
> this may be the single biggest issue with the use of a transborder
> service such as Office 365 and I am certain that it is in violation of
> the Commonwealth Privacy Act. I am in the process of seeking a legal
> opinion about this.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bob Edwards.
>



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