Drobox and the DPA

[Stuart_C]

Howdy,

 

Are there any issues or legalities when it comes to using dropbox or even Skydrive/Goolge's Equivilent? Particularly with things like data protection.

 

I saw the post a while ago about Google's T's & C's but wondered if there was any other things I should be aware of?

 

Our ICT director is pushing cloud learning which I'm not objecting to, I just like to know what isuses I need to make sure are considered what sort of stressess will be placed on the network.

[Dos_Box]

I suggest you dig into this thread here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/82196-article-dropbox-ok-use.html which should address most issues you require answers too.

[zag]

Howdy,

Are there any issues or legalities when it comes to using dropbox or even Skydrive/Goolge's Equivilent? Particularly with things like data protection.

 

In short, no.

 

But as dos_box says, its worth reading that thread if you really want to delve into it.

 

We've been using cloud storage for a number of years with no issues. Office 365 has just been released with online sharepoint which makes things very interesting.

 

I think in a few years time when most things are stored in the cloud, these discussions will be quite funny to read back on

[si289]

Dropbox did not used to comply with the US-EU Safe Harbour regulations which is why we never used it within our college. How ever it would seem that they are now Safe Harbour compliant and so should have no data protection issues when using it (The Dropbox Blog » Blog Archive » US-EU Safe Harbor Certification).

[GrumbleDook]

I might need to do a new article about safe use of online / syncing storage ... even when it meets DPA compliance. You know ... if you are using Dropbox then you don't have the folders with sensitive materials syncing onto a computer used by all the family on a single account!

 

I'm already writing up some other guides to come out later in the year but I think a little something before then might be handy.