Draft_Wednesday

McMaster University is committed to respecting the privacy of its students' personal information. The University is subject to the Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and as such shall use all reasonable efforts to provide the user with a safe and secure email system.

This statement sets forth details concerning the online collection, usage and storage of personal information by McMaster for the purpose of providing McMaster student email accounts. By utilizing your McMaster student email account, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement and consent to the policies and practices described herein.

Your data will be stored and processed by Google Inc. in whole or in part in the United States or such other country in which Google inc. or its agents maintain facilities. Use of this system constitutes your consent to transfer your personal information out of Canada and acknowledgement that your data may be disclosed to, among other governments, the United States governments, law enforcement or regulatory agencies through the laws of the United States. à do we have a choice? Economic gains are granted.

Neither Google Inc. nor McMaster University will sell, rent or give any identifiable information collected through this system. à it need not to do if it is already collected, and if, as the Snowden leaks suggest, backdoor access is granted already through PRISM.

Changes to Privacy Statement

Not to mention metadata

to provide a general right of access to the records of institutions to which it applies, subject to certain limited and specific exemptions; to protect the privacy of individuals whose personal information is held by those institutions; and to give those individuals access to that information

Coincidentally, CIO Magazine reported on June 4th (before the FISA/PRISM revelations in the media) about Google’s efforts to modify or restrict FISA subpoenas.  You can see the article here.

Media reports have been largely inaccurate about the scope of the PRISM program and FISA warrants and its use on American citizens on US soil.

Google is not allowed to release the numbers and scope of the requests by law.  On June 11th, Google made public an official request to release that information so that Google customers will have a more accurate picture and will understand that their data remains secure.

Conclusion

The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government have very specific rules for how private Google keeps your data and how Google responds (and lets you respond) to subpoenas Google receives for customer data.

There is no evidence, or any indication, that Google has acted outside the bounds of these terms and conditions, even as Google vigorously defends the privacy of customer data in court.--> but that's exactly the problem, no gaurantee or information otherwise

1. The NSA and other agencies do not have unfettered access to customer data
2. Google was not participating in, nor aware of the PRISM program
3. Google actively works to limit the number and scope of FISA requests

more transparency is needed so everyone can better understand how surveillance laws work and decide whether or not they serve the public interest. Specifically, we want to disclose the precise numbers and types of requests we receive, as well as the number of users they affect in a timely way. That’s why we need Congress to go another step further and pass legislation that will enable us to say more