The WIA and Google Suite

[VK2CSW]

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)

[VK3ALB]

Since you asked, my choice to belong to the WIA would not hinge on the provision of an email redirect.

At the risk of derailing the discussion I don't think the WIA core business should include providing IT services to it's members. That of course does not include the provision of a service portal such as MEMNET.

I think the pervasive nature of Google is a concern and on the back of this discussion everyone should make their own investigations to understand and determine the impact it might have on them.

[VK2CSW]

Hi Lou,

It seems the WIA have engaged what appears to be an external 'concierge' service to handle email comms - this suggests that their IT services are being outsourced. Thus the qualification of business use for google suite.

It seems a weird choice to provide these 'services'. Maybe they are trying to 'value add' to arrest falling membership - but partnering with Google, given the baggage they bring to the table, seems a bit risky.

As I have said above, I see the cost/benefit equation for membership to be razor thin, and losing the redirect and bundling google applications does not make the ratio any more favourable from where I stand.

[VK2CSW]

I received this from Aidan Mountford on behalf of the WIA President (I had emailed the Prez directly on this matter).

I make no comment as I am yet to digest what this means:

Colin,

I apologise if there has been any miscommunication - I will review this communication with the IT group.

With respect to the email redirection service, this is not being discontinued. All existing redirections will continue
to work. The key thing that is changing is that for those who elect to participate, GSuite will be available (and will
be the default on a go forward basis for new members)

With respect to the security and privacy of data from gMail, we initially shared your concerns and we agree that the
standard "gmail" service that is "free" has terms and conditions that are less than attractive.

The service being deployed by the WIA is not the standard gmail service - It is googles business grade product that
is used by corporations and governments globally. The terms and conditions relating to the use of this product are
well documented, but, in summary the matters that make the "free" gmail service unsuitable are not matters of
concern in the corporate product.

If this is not the "free" product, it must cost money - which might then lead you to ask "how is this being funded".
Over the past 12 months the team has put significant effort into starting to attract sponsorship for the WIA to relieve pressure
on members funds. Google has come forward with a very generous series of donations - this is one facet of that
agreement.

If you would like to understand the broader terms under which this is provided please review the link below:
https://gsuite.google.com.au/intl/en_au/...ta-centers

Kind regards,

It was in response to this:

Dear Justin,


I am writing to you to express my disappointment at the imminent removal of the WIA email redirection service.

I have been advised by your "IT Team" that as of mid-March that as I am unwilling to accept the Google Suite option that the redirection service will be discontinued.

To be honest, I am appalled at this turn of events and even more astonished that technical people would even countenance allowing Google access to the institutes data and to process member's emails.

I don't wish to sound condescending, but I still need to ask - You do realise that Google's primary income streams are from on selling data they harvest via their various systems?

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. Your 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 each year. Without that I struggle to see a real value.

The bundling of Google Suite, I assume is intended as a value add, does not go into the positive column, it is a very definite negative.

I respectfully ask that the board reflect on the decision to bundle the Google Suite and the decision to force members to have their emails handled by Google.

[VK5ZD]

If you would like to understand the broader terms under which this is provided please review the link below:
https://gsuite.google.com.au/intl/en_au/...ta-centers

The link doesn't work.

[VK2CSW]

I copied and pasted the original text. Does this work?

https://gsuite.google.com.au/intl/en_au ... ta-centers

(It works for me but that is probably not a great test)