SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Several sites are reporting that Windows 10 telemetry and the invasiveness of Office 365's monitoring mean that schools in the German state of Hesse have been banned from using it. The decision was handed down by the Hesse Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HBDI — Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit.) The ban also applies to many other "cloud" services for the same reasons, so Google Docs and Apple's hosted services are banned as well in the same move.
The issue is not solely with hosted services in and of themselves but with the data collection carried out by the services and the question of consent for that with minors. The issue of coerced consent is not raised yet in that context. For the time being, standalone solutions like LibreOffice or Calligra would solve the problem and, many would say, be significantly better all around.
[There used to be a datacenter in Germany — the Deutschland-Cloud — on which the German student data was stored, but that was closed in August 2018. That data was migrated, and new data is now stored, on a European data center that can be accessed by US officials upon request. --Ed.]
9to5Mac: Office 365 banned from German schools, Google Docs and iWork also ruled out
CNet: Microsoft Office 365 banned in some schools over privacy concerns
The Verge: German state bans Office 365 in schools, citing privacy concerns
The Next Web: German schools ban Microsoft Office 365 amid privacy concerns
Original Decision: Stellungnahme des Hessischen Beauftragten für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit zum Einsatz von Microsoft Office 365 in hessischen Schulen
(Score: 4, Informative) by captain normal on Tuesday July 16 2019, @05:57PM (2 children)
That post by srobert seems to have whooshed right by you. As a retired facilities project engineer, I groked his joke and had a good laugh. "Airgap" is an old (much older than network systems) plumbing term referring to a physical separation between potable water supply and sewage.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday July 16 2019, @08:49PM
I call dibs on the potable water supply!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday July 26 2019, @03:38PM
You are probably right, but forgive me for seeing the facet based on what I do for a living...
I know what a sewage airgap is -- I've had to pour vegetable oil down into them sometimes to keep that airgap from making data center work unbearable during renovations!!
Sewage and air can still transmit a lot of data if you know what I mean. oil in the drain is frowned upon... but so is retching in the summer when the building AC is off in a place that has bugs flying out of the data center floor vents due to a lack of proper care...