The U.S. Department of Education has hired a Chief Privacy Officer. Take a look at the press release here.

This seems like a great thing. Here is what the new CPO will be doing…

She will head a new division dedicated to advancing the responsible stewardship, collection, use, maintenance and disclosure of information at the national level within the Education Department.

Schools keep a great deal of information about their students. They keep names and addresses. Medical information is also kept. It is important to protect and responsibly disclose this info.

Now that there is a renewed emphasis at the national level, when can we expect the states to follow? How about the individual school districts?

I am eager to see how this impacts things at the state level and local schools. You can bet many will be watching.

- Dan

Earlier in the month, the Online Safety and Technology Working Group within the NTIA submitted their report entitled Youth Safety on a Living Internet, along with their recommendations to the Dept of Commerce and members of the House and Senate.

Here is a summary of the objectives of the report which is take directly from the introductory comments…

On behalf of the Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG), we are pleased to transmit this report to you. As mandated, we reviewed and evaluated:

 

1. The status of industry efforts to promote online safety through educational efforts, parental control technology, blocking and filtering software, age-appropriate labels for content or other technologies or initiatives designed to promote a safe online environment for children;

 

2. The status of industry efforts to promote online safety among providers of electronic communications services and remote computing services by reporting apparent child pornography, including any obstacles to such reporting;

 

3. The practices of electronic communications service providers and remote computing service providers related to record retention in connection with crimes against children; and

 

4. The development of technologies to help parents shield their children from inappropriate material on the Internet.

 

The report contains recommendations in each of the above categories, as well some general recommendations. We believe these recommendations will further advance our collective goal to provide a safer online experience to our children.

This is an important document. If you have children, know children or are involved with kids at church or school you should take the time to read this report.

- Dan

It’s convenient to just turn on your computer, go get a cup of coffee and have the desktop waiting for you when you come back. Right?

But do you realize that you are putting your sensitive data at risk when you do that?

What if you lose your computer? One barrier to the Bad Guys accessing your files is removed. I can think of countless scenarios similar to this.

If you are running Mac OS X, here are the steps to turn off automatic login…

1. Open System Preferences and then open the Security pane.



2. Put a check mark beside “Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver”, and also put a check mark beside “Disable automatic login” for all accounts on this computer.

What about Windows XP or Vista? First off, you need Local Administrator rights to make this change. Second, if you are joined to a Domain, then by default your auto-login is turned off and this is managed by the Domain Administrator.

Here are the steps to turn off automatic login in a Windows XP and Vista environment…

1. Go to Start… Run… and then type control userpasswords2 in the Run… box and hit enter.



2. Put a check mark in the box beside Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Click Apply, then OK.

That’s all there is to it! Pretty simple, and greatly increases the security of your files in the event you lose your computer, or someone without permission turns your computer on.

- Dan

Computerworld reported last week that more people have been indicted on E-Rate fraud charges. Basically they have been accused of stealing money that was intended to help schools and libraries with technology for education.

It is important that you know your vendors. Many vendors will approach schools with proposals for solutions they say qualify for E-Rate funding. Sometimes the school or library will create an RFP (Request for Proposal) and send to potential vendors. While the technology may qualify, not all vendors are created equal. How are we to know which vendors are reputable?

• References – Ask for at least four companies or schools that this vendor has done work for. Contact these organizations and get their opinions on the quality, timliness and cost of the work. Find out about any negative interactions with the company. This would be very similar to checking references for a possible new employee.
• Research – Do your own research into the vendor. How long have they been in business? How big is the company? You are seeking information that will give you an idea of the stability and longevity of the company. You want to make sure that this vendor will be around in case there are issues following the project implementation.
• Warranty or money back guarantee – We all want a project to be done on time and within budget. We also expect the solution to work as presented. But, sometimes these things don’t happen. Does this vendor offer any warranty on their work or a money back guarantee in the event of a complete failure to deliver?
• Capability – This seems obvious, but does this company have the expertise and capability to deliver on what they are selling?
• Design – If an RFP has been developed and sent out, you should closely review the proposals that are returned by the vendors. Make sure that their solutions really fit the requirements and that extraneous items are not included. You can be assured that if they are trying to get unneeded items or work into their proposal then they are not a company you want to enter into a relationship with. You want to be able to trust your vendors.

The vast majority of vendors are reputable. Only a few are guilty of fraudulent behavior. Do you homework and you will be able to avoid the ones working to rip you off.

- Dan