However, while students and the administration may be embracing the practical upsides of the switch to gmail – great value, savings and reliability – faculty at Lakehead haven’t come under Google’s spell. In late 2006, the Lakehead faculty union filed a grievance with the university, now under arbitration, asserting that the e-mail system fails to protect their privacy and academic freedom.
At the heart of the complaint is Google’s status as a U.S. company. Because Google is subject to American law, Lakehead will not be able to protect the contents of faculty’s e-mail from the U.S. government, which under the U.S. Patriot Act can compel Google to hand over data without even allowing the company to inform Lakehead that the transaction took place. Noting that Lakehead was the first school in North America that asked faculty, as well as students, to use an outsourced e-mail service, the Canadian Association of University Teachers has taken up the case.
“If a faculty member knows that any e-mail they write, by virtue of it being handled by Google, could be subject to access and seizure by U.S. security agencies, they might be much less willing to share views with their colleagues” said CAUT Executive Director James Turk. “As we’ve seen all too often, very innocent things can attract the interest of American security officials.”
John Evans on 18 Feb 14"There is nothing in the world quite like a good book. Reading, whether curled up by the fire, secretly holding a torch under the duvet, or simply drifting through life with your nose firmly wedged between the pages, is one of the most wonderful things in life. As a veritable devourer of books since childhood, I can't help feeling protective of the wonders of musty old pages and tiny, mysterious local book shops, so it is no insignificant thing for me to write a blog extolling the virtues of those half-wonderful, half-devastating recent inventions… paperless books."