Interesting security issue with Google Apps for Education

I’ve come across a feature of Google Apps for Education that people should really be aware of. It goes like this…

When a school or college signs up for Google Apps for Education, a single email account is used to register a local administrator. This administrator then has control over the sub-accounts, including creation, passwords and monitoring. This would be someone at the school you can trust, right? Because they have access to all your children’s data. And it’s only for school use, so where’s the problem?

Well here’s the problem: that data will probably include a GMail account, and they may not be using it for education-related matters. Creepy. Assuming you trust the monitor, do you snoop on the pupils for their own protection or leave it completely unmoderated, with all the implications for child safety. You’re between a rock and a hard place. By forcing pupils to use an insecure channel you’re responsible for the consequences: if you look you could be accused of voyeurism; if you don’t you can be accused of allowing abuse which you could have prevented.

And it gets worse, because you’re basically logging in using a Google Account. How many people log out when they’re finished? And if a child logs in on a home computer and someone else uses it afterwards without realising, the administrator at the school gets to snoop on data inadvertently added to the account by other members of the household.

Are you a parent, and were you aware of this? You are now!

If you’re a school, my advice is to (a) monitor the monitor; and (b) make sure children know to log out after use; and (c) make very sure that you have parents’ specific permission to allow their children to use the system, being aware of the above. If not and you end up monitoring someone you don’t have permission to (i.e. not your pupil), you’re probably looking at an offence under the Misuse of Computer Act 1990 in the UK, and a class action law suit in the USA. Remember that school in Philadelphia that took snapshots using students’ Macbook webcams without telling anyone? (Robbins v. Lower Merion School District). There was no suggestion of foul play, just naivety on the part of the school district. And it cost them $600K to settle, plus a great deal of embarrassment.

London Low Emissions Tax Grab on the Poor

The GLA has sprung a public consultation on us, trying to get us to agree to a tax on horrible polluting vehicles to improve the air quality in central London. It’s the kind of thing that gives environmentalists a bad name – a money grab in the guise of a clean-up.

The idea is that vehicles that don’t meet current emission standards, decided by age, will be clobbered an additional £12 on top of the congestion tax for driving through London. Who’s it going to hit? Not the commercial users (generally speaking) as their vehicle fleets are going to be fairly modern. And not the Chelsea Tractors – they’re too new. It’s going to affect the people least able to afford it – those with an older family car that they keep going rather than scrapping because either they can’t afford a shiny new one, or simply think the conspicuous consumption of the new car market is immoral.

The consultation has some interesting, but cooked, figures for the source of the problem. Even then it doesn’t stack up. But on a proper survey of pollutants like this one it’s even more revealing.

First off, a half of some pollutants come from brake, tyre and road surface wear. Taxing older vehicles isn’t going to change that – it’s got nothing to do with the engine. Then about a third comes from burning gas, and most of that commercial use. The GLA doesn’t mention this!

Then we get to the breakdown from vehicle NO2 emissions. The (current, measured) figures show that:

35% comes lorries (articulated or rigid)
28% is from busses and coaches
21% is from taxis
16% is from cars and motorbikes.

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Of the last figure, 90% of that is likely to be from diesel cars and 10% petrol cars.

Hmm. So which type of vehicle is going to be caught by the tax the most – probably the older cars, and these will probably be petrol (most cars are). Yet they’re responsible for only 2% of the problem.

Okay, if the GLA wishes to slap a £100 charge on coaches and lorries, this will work – it will hasten the replacement of ageing clapped-out diesel engines which will have done enough miles by the time this is introduced in 2020. People with older cars simply don’t operate this way. They’ll just have to pay up, proving this is just a money generating exercise.
The GLA was serious about reducing emissions, they should go for the low-hanging fruit – ban diesel taxis and make them go electric would save 21% at a stroke. And the same with the LRT busses (possibly not coaches). And the beauty of this system is that it won’t cost very much to run.

LGVs (big lorries) are more of a problem. They’re probably not going to head through central London unless they really have to, and the technology doesn’t exist (yet) to replace them. Emissions from these have already been reduced, but they still produce most of the problem. And they’re not going to be taxed, because they meet modern standards. It needs some investment in clever solutions.

The plan appears to be to raise this by taxing the low-income or occasional motorist (i.e. anyone with an older car). That’s not right. If you agree, and want to have your say, click here.

 

Sad to hear of aircraft down at Popham

So sad to hear of the loss of life at Popham today when a small light aircraft came down south of the A303 in poor weather, almost certainly attempting a descent to land on runway 26. One of the three on board survived, and was driven to Southampton hospital in critical condition. Apparently the aircraft wasn’t based at Popham, but had left from Bembridge and was presumably diverting there due to the weather.

Another aircraft came down in about the same place in September 2012, but with no loss of life.

I was flying yesterday in a similar aircraft but thought better of today due to visit; and it’s both sad and sobering. My thoughts are with their relatives and everyone else at the Spitfire Club.

 

Update: 04-Jan-2015

The names of the occupants have been released as Lewis and Sally Tonkinson, with their six-year-old son as the sole survivor. Looking at the photographs of the crash site in the Isle of Weight County Press, the aircraft in question appears to be very “light”, consistent with a Pioneer 300 Hawk registration G-OWBA, of which Mr Tonkinson is a connected and on which 37 hours have been logged. Curiously, this is a two-seater with a 20Kg luggage capacity. LAA registration number is LAA 330-15155

Update 07-Jan-2015
I’ve seen reported elsewhere that the aircraft in question was a Pioneer 400 G-CGVO, but can’t tie this to Mr Tonkinson. The 400 is a “stretched” 300, with four seats, which would make more sense, but I’ve seen no official confirmation. There’s an AAIB report on G-CGVO (door opened on takeoff), but it was in Herefordshire, and the aircraft was based in Wales. It’s obviously possible that it subsequently changed hands.