On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 2:37 AM, Ronald E. Rice <rrice@comm.ucsb.edu> wrote:
The question about accounts is a red herring. You can set up a google docs account without using a google email account. Once you use the google email account, it does offer you additional features, but that's when they can track usage across all google activities. You can allow access to a shared set of google apps to other folks using non-google email accounts.
That is true, but they still have to use some email address to join and use Google Docs. And these addresses are available to people sharing documents with one another. Just because it may not be a Google address doesn't negate the (admittedly potential) harms of providing shared access to names and email addresses on third party services at the direction of a faculty member. In fact, if students use their own email addresses to create the Google account, then it is those personal accounts that are displayed. And if someone creates a fake Yahoo account just to create a Google account, then they just as well may create the Google account using Gmail. I guess my point is that whether a student uses a Gmail or other email address, they are still providing clear text access of email addresses to anyone they share documents with and anyone else who may end up seeing the documents (including hackers and a giant target, Google itself). Also, someone mentioned creating fake accounts for the sake of the exercise. I don't feel too bad about it since it's basically free advertising to an entire class, but as I read their Terms of Service, that would be a technical violation. So would an instructor creating a class load for the students (individual accounts, not purchasing domain services). Also, just to play devil's advocate, students can be under 18 in most US institutions and would not necessarily be old enough to fulfill their obligation to be of age in agreeing to the Google TOS. Others with more knowledge feel free to correct me. While each of these points may be somewhat insignificant, they combine for potentially important situations. Plus, the courts are full of examples where lawyers find tiny loopholes to jump on organizations. My only issue is with faculty requiring or "heavily suggesting" that students need to join or use these third party sources as part of a course. I use all of them, so I am clearly not against them on principle. -Gordon