followgoogle

445HoesLane,Piscataway,NJ08854USA+17329810060Fax+17329810027www.
ieee.
orgIEEEG-SuiteandRecentReportofGoogleAllowingAppDeveloperstoAccessYourEmailIEEEbecameawareofaninvestigativereportpublishedbytheWallStreetJournalheadlined,"Tech'sDirtySecret:TheAppDevelopersSiftingThroughYourGmail.
"ThisarticleandothermediareportsraisedprivacyconcernsformanypeopleaswellassomeofourIEEEvolunteerssinceGoogleG-SuiteisusedbystaffinadditiontomembersthroughtheGoogleApps@IEEEservice.
IEEEhasdeterminedthatGoogleisnotprovidingaccesstoapplicationdeveloperstoreadyouremailregardlessofwhetheryouareusingthefreeversionofGmailoroneoftheirG-Suiteversions.
Googledoesprovideamechanismandabilityforapplicationdeveloperstocreateapplications(a.
k.
a.
pluginsorextensions)thatprovideextendedfunctionalityforGmailusers.
Thisextendedfunctionalitymayprovideenhancedemailandcalendaringtaskssuchas,butnotlimitedto;sortingemail,automaticallyconvertingmessagestofollow-uptasks,re-prioritizingmessagesorsettingupautomaticreminders.
Beforeusinganyoftheseapplications,Googlepresentstheuserwithanauthorizationrequest,whichspecifieswhattheapplicationwillhaveaccessto.
Theuserdecideswhethertoallowtheapplicationtohaveaccessornot.
Thisisverysimilartoinstallinganapplicationonamobiledevice,wheretheuserispromptedtograntaccesstotheapplicationifitneedstoaccessahardwarecomponent(suchasthecameraormicrophone),dataorotherapplicationsonthedevice.
Accordingtothemediareportsitwasdeterminedsomeapplicationdevelopershaveusedtheaccessgrantedbyenduserstogathersamplesoftheiremailwhichwasusedtoimprovetheirproductswithouttheirknowledge.
GooglepublishedapostonitsKeywordblogtoexplainanddefenditsprivacypractices(https://slate.
com/technology/2018/07/why-we-suddenly-care-that-google-let-app-developers-read-our-gmail.
html).
Googlehasindicatedthattheyenforceamulti-stepreviewprocessthatincludesautomatedandmanualreviewofthethird-partydeveloperapplications.
Thisincludesassessingtheapplicationshomepage,privacypolicyaswellastestingtoensuretheyworksasclaimed.
GooglereferencesafeaturecalledSecurityCheckupthatcanbeusedbyenduserstoperiodicallychecktheirprivacysettings,includingtheaccessthey'vegrantedtothird-partyapplications.
UseofGoogleG-SuiteatIEEEIEEEisusingGoogleG-SuiteforBusinessforbothmembersandstaff.
G-SuiteforBusinessallowsanenterprisetocontrolandmanagetheuseofG-SuitecoreservicessuchasEmail,Calendar,GoogleDriveand;providessecuritymechanismstorestrictaccesstothirdpartyapplicationsandenforcesecuritypolicies.
Therearesomedifferencesinthewaywesupportstaffandmembers.
ThereareasetofpoliciesthatcontrolhowstaffhasaccesstoGoogle,weenforceretentionpoliciesforthestaff.
Currently,whilewehavethecapabilitytocontrolaccesstothird-partyapplications,thisisnotenforced.
ForIEEEmembers,weprovideaccesstocoreG-Suiteservicessimilartotheonesusedbystaffwithsomeexceptions.
ThecoreservicesavailabletomembersaredefinedbyMGA.
Therearefewrestrictionsappliedtotheapplicationsthatmembersareallowedtouse.
Forexample,werestricttheabilityformemberstocreatetheirownGoogleSiteorcreateGoogleGroups.
445HoesLane,Piscataway,NJ08854USA+17329810060Fax+17329810027www.
ieee.
orgGoogleencryptsalldatastoredintheG-Suiteenvironment.
Any3rdpartyapplicationthatmayinteractwiththisdatarequirespermissionfromtheendusertodoso.
Thisappliestoapplicationsusedbymembersandstaff.
Thiscanbecontrolled,ifneeded,bydenyingaccesstoallapplications,andcreatingawhitelistedsubsetofapprovedapplications.
Inthiscase,IEEEwillneedtoreviewrequestedapplication(s)andapprovetheirusepriortomakingthemavailabletoendusers.
WhilethereareretentionpoliciesappliedtoIEEEstaffemail,asrequiredtomaintaincompliancewithestablishedlegal,operationsandfinancialprocesses;therearenoretentionpoliciesappliedtoIEEEmembersusingG-Suiteand,asaresult,theemailstaysinthemember'smailboxuntilisremovedbythemember.
NotallmemberskeeptheiremailinG-Suite,somehavechosentoforwardtheiremailtoexternalaccounts–thismayincludeanythingthatGooglemayconsiderspamsincethisiscontrolledbythemember.
Staffdataisbackedupandlegal-holdmechanismsareinplacethatenablestheretentionofdataintheeventoflegallitigation.
Whilethisisnotthecaseforourmembers,insomespecialcasestheretentionmechanismmaybeappliedtomembersholdingleadershippositionsattheIEEEasrequestedbytheIEEELegalandComplianceDepartment.