Re: gmail+imap+smtp (oauth2)

[Tim Cross]

Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com> writes:

> Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
>> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
>> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
>>
>>   > > In case a school demands you have a Gmail account, it would be useful
>>   > > if we had instructions to send to the staff, saying, "You may create
>>   > > the account, choose a password, and tell it to me.  (Since it will
>>   > > only be for email to and from the school, it makes no difference to me
>>   > > that school staff will know the password.)  Please choose an account
>>   > > name with no resemblance to my name.  Please set the account settings
>>   > > as follows so that my software can access the account."
>>   > >
>>
>>   > There is no way any institution would support such a workflow. Apart
>>   > from the additional resource demands,
>>
>> It looks like we are miscommunicating.  I think you're thinking about
>> a change in the university's general practices.  I'm talking about
>> demanding that some staff person do this once -- for you -- as a
>> special thing.
>>
>> Perse will be shocked and say, "But then I would know your password!"
>> That gives you a chance to shock per again by saying, "That's ok -- I
>> trust a university employee more than I trust Google."
>>
>> Then you can say that you refuse to run Google's proprietary software
>> on your computer, and likewise Microsoft and Apple, because trusting them
>> that far is against your principles.
>

I also forgot the one other extremely important point. Your assumption
is that when your asking the staff person to create your account that
the password is just for email. That is extremely unlikely to be the
case. These days, the student will have one login and one password
(likely with 2FA) for everything. They don't have separate accounts for
accessing learning materials, admin/billing/enrolment/transcripts,
email, library, network access etc. All these services are integrated
under a 'same login' (slightly different to single sign on, though many
of the systems would also be SSO).

As for telling them about your principals... Well quite honestly, I
doubt any admin or service desk person or any staff generally will care
about your principals. The likely response will be "Oh well, then you
had better find a different school". Remember, ultimately, it is no skin
off their nose if you enrol or not - their pay packet will be the same.