24-02-2019, 07:20 AM
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the WIA indicating that they would be moving their email redirection service to a Google service. For those who are unaware, the WIA has provided a service where members of the WIA could get a @wia.org.au email address that forwarded mail to the users actual mailbox.
For reasons unexplained the WIA has decided to outsource this service to Google, with the kicker being that the member will also be offered a package including G-Mail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive and other applications in the Google portfolio.
As many would be aware Google makes its money through advertising and data harvesting. Data harvesting being the most lucrative as it drives advertising revenues.
The WIA's decision to push this service, without any consultation with the membership, concerns me as I do not believe this is a fair trade off - that is to say sacrificing yet another slice of privacy to Google's data warehouse to get an email address.
I have had correspondence with the WIA's IT folk about this and it appears that it will be all or nothing - accept the Google Suite or lose the redirection. This will happen mid-March. This gives those who 'opt-out' very little time to rearrange all of their email address business.
The value proposition for retaining my membership with the WIA is very finely balanced. The magazine is awful, customer service is poor and the internal ructions which have consumed the organisation are very much negatives. Their advocacy and representation to government and international boards is important. The provision of the email redirection service is what has tipped me over the line to renew my membership.
Now that that very service is to become yet another insidious intrusion by Google, I am struggling to justify the outlay.
Am I alone in this?
Are others concerned by this action?
(I will be cross posting this to another forum to gather a wider range of opinions)
For reasons unexplained the WIA has decided to outsource this service to Google, with the kicker being that the member will also be offered a package including G-Mail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive and other applications in the Google portfolio.
As many would be aware Google makes its money through advertising and data harvesting. Data harvesting being the most lucrative as it drives advertising revenues.
The WIA's decision to push this service, without any consultation with the membership, concerns me as I do not believe this is a fair trade off - that is to say sacrificing yet another slice of privacy to Google's data warehouse to get an email address.
I have had correspondence with the WIA's IT folk about this and it appears that it will be all or nothing - accept the Google Suite or lose the redirection. This will happen mid-March. This gives those who 'opt-out' very little time to rearrange all of their email address business.
The value proposition for retaining my membership with the WIA is very finely balanced. The magazine is awful, customer service is poor and the internal ructions which have consumed the organisation are very much negatives. Their advocacy and representation to government and international boards is important. The provision of the email redirection service is what has tipped me over the line to renew my membership.
Now that that very service is to become yet another insidious intrusion by Google, I am struggling to justify the outlay.
Am I alone in this?
Are others concerned by this action?
(I will be cross posting this to another forum to gather a wider range of opinions)