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Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

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Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#41

Post by Aerroon »

dx034 wrote: post #12
wiz21c wrote: post #2

Now let's ban MSFT Office365 too. It's of zero use to teach whatever to the kids.

I'd have to disagree here. Teaching kids how to use Word and Excel will help them for the majority of office jobs out there.

Just use LibreOffice Calc or some equivalent. The main things you want them to learn is to use formulas, charts and filters anyway. LibreOffice Calc does all of that in a pretty similar way to what Excel does.

I'm actually not even sure what I would gain by switching to actual Excel.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#42

Post by dx034 »

lrvick wrote: post #28
dx034 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have to disagree here. Teaching kids how to use Word and Excel will help them for the majority of office jobs out there.

Should we teach kids to use TikTok and Facebook so they will be better prepared to help with future office marketing tasks too? This line of thinking is poison and will only amplify the monopolisic power of whatever select companies make the taught-in-schools list. Proprietary technology has no place in educational institutions.

No, you only need Facebook and TikTok in very few office jobs (and there probably other interfaces than users typically use). Excel is present in pretty much all office jobs. Maybe not all programmer jobs, but apart from some backend coders I haven't seen many people who never had to work with Word or Excel.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#43

Post by gdhkgdhkvff »

wiz21c wrote: post #2

Now let's ban MSFT Office365 too. It's of zero use to teach whatever to the kids.

Do you have any reason to say this other than “big corporation bad”?

I would argue it is far more helpful for 80%+ of kids to learn excel than to learn advanced maths.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#44

Post by lrvick »

rattray wrote: post #31

How concretely-grounded are these privacy concerns? I know we all love to hate Google, but my impression is they take the privacy of email extremely seriously at this point (eg, no longer using it for ads). Sure, I don't trust Google that much and I know others trust their brand even less, but is there hard evidence of misuse of Gmail user data?

It is an open secret if you talk to any Google employee that Gmail data is heavily used to enrich other Google services, including ad placement, even if indirectly. They also can and will give it to authorities thanks to bulk keyword sharing agreements with or without individual warrants.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/10/04/googl...

US citizens should take careful note of the fact their data is only usefully constitutionally protected if it is hosted at home.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#45

Post by bigus »

spyke112 wrote: post #6

I've been thinking of ditching Gmail for myself and my business, but what true alternatives are there? I already have O365, but am not particular keen on using Exchange. I'm basically only using Gmail and Calendar. Any e-mail providers based out of the EU, worth mentioning?

Mailbox has been awesome to me

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#46

Post by cscurmudgeon »

lrvick wrote: post #28
dx034 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have to disagree here. Teaching kids how to use Word and Excel will help them for the majority of office jobs out there.

Should we teach kids to use TikTok and Facebook so they will be better prepared to help with future office marketing tasks too? This line of thinking is poison and will only amplify the monopolisic power of whatever select companies make the taught-in-schools list. Proprietary technology has no place in educational institutions.

> Should we teach kids to use TikTo

The mostly pro TikTok comments here when news of it being banned indicates YES.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#47

Post by oellegaard »

sidibe wrote: post #39
rattray wrote: post #31

How concretely-grounded are these privacy concerns? I know we all love to hate Google, but my impression is they take the privacy of email extremely seriously at this point (eg, no longer using it for ads). Sure, I don't trust Google that much and I know others trust their brand even less, but is there hard evidence of misuse of Gmail user data?

Google has lost the PR war in Europe they are now a political punching bag there. Practically Gmail is probably one of the best choices for privacy with a good track record including attempted breach by China playing a role in their exiting the country. But in principle Google as an ad company will never be acceptable to those who want privacy to be more valued

You might be confusing privacy with security here

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#48

Post by mnd999 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

This is basically European protectionism under the guise of privacy. My guess is that within a few years (or even sooner), you will be reading about a massive breach of student data from whatever alternative they choose to go with.

Probably, but doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is a big improvement on doing the wrong thing.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#49

Post by Aerroon »

bigDinosaur wrote: post #21
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of open source options that will teach them 90% of what most people will need to know. Taxpayer money should not be going to these corporations.

Nothing really compares to Excel. (Nothing really compares to Excel in some of its most terrible bugs either).

What does Excel do that something like LibreOffice Calc does not? I'm genuinely curious because I've not run into any issues with the latter that the former would've solved so far.

Re: Denmark bans Gmail and Co from schools due to privacy concerns

#50

Post by gilrain »

kdps wrote: post #10
dwighttk wrote: post #4

“Co” seems to be Google cloud services… is that just a translation issue?

Translation issue. In German, the expression "... und Co" is a synonym for et cetera.

Also a popular expression in English; there is no translation issue. More of a synonym for “et al” than “et cetera”.
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