do NOT use grouply here

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Hi group,

Velvet forwarded a nice explaination of what "grouply" is. We will not be allowing grouply ads or posts or messages here and recommend that you do NOT use grouply. Below is an explanation of what grouply is and how it works for anyone interested to learn more:

<<Dear Members -CDO has decided to restrict all access to our groups throughGrouply.comeffective immediately.We are also recommending all members change their passwordsas soon as possible. At this point we have no real evidence of anycompromise in security but CDO always operates with the utmostcaution regarding member privacy.We'd like to thank Dietz for alerting us to this concern.For those of you unfamiliar with Grouply.com here is an interestingarticle which I found online.Here is an interesting article I found written by a teacher:"It certainly LOOKS like a legit (and potentially very helpful) web2.0 application! They're TRUSTe certified, they got a positive reviewon TechCrunch, and they even have a FAQ that directly addresses someof the concerns that have been raised on the Internet about them.More importantly, the concept is very powerful; it's basically asocial networking mashup of your and Google Groups, offeringto turn your mishmosh of multiple groups into a seamless, single-siteexperience. But wait, there's more.Grouply allows you to get all of your group updates in a singleemail; consolidates all your group information on a single website;dramatically reduces the size (measured in line counts) of `digest'emails, making them easier and faster to read; allows for cross-groupcalendaring; tagged searches; dynamic user profiles; and `what'spopular' and `who's active' functions to keep tabs on hot topics andprolific members of your network. Take the tour yourself. For peoplewho subscribe to and manage a lot of and Google groups,Grouply could be a godsend.So what's the problem?In order for the service to work, you have to give them your IDand password. All of a sudden, visions of address-book spammers likeQuechup come racing to mind, but we're not talking here about aservice using your address book to grow their business. No, it's apotentially a LOT worse than that. To be honest, I'm not sure thefounders of Grouply have thought this through very well.Consider for a moment what information is controlled by your credentials . like all your Flickr photos; your Finance accountinformation; your Security Key; all your profiles andidentities; your OpenID key; your home address and telephone number;your Wallet information, even your Auctions account.Yep. Once you've given out your password, they have access to all ofthat, regardless if they have NO INTENTIONS WHATSOEVER of using it.Grouply tries to allay fears about potential misuse of yourcredentials in this part of their FAQ but to anyone with a modicum ofconcern about their data privacy, this is a HUGE red flag. Doesn'tmatter what they say. (Can you say `rouge employee?') Fact is, you'vegiven out your password. What happens next?If all goes well, you'll enjoy the new service and its cool features.You'll save time, build your network, and access information moreeasily. You'll start leveraging Groups in ways you hadn't before.It's all good!If all DOESN'T go well - and your identity is somehowcompromised, despite the ample protections they claim to have inplace - what then?There's more, though. As I understand it, joining Grouply effectivelyoverrides the privacy and other settings you've put in place on Groups you're managing. Content becomes available, email addresses ofsubscribers become visible, everything becomes part of the network.For people using as a secure communication area forbusiness or their organization, this could be a problem. I don'tbelong to any groups that I wouldn't write about here, but I havecreated MANY private groups for clients, colleagues and schoolassociates for projects. I wouldn't want these private groups'content brought into the open; that's why we made `em private!Seriously. I don't design web applications and I'm not a venturecapitalist. I'm certainly no data security expert. Heck, I'm aclassroom teacher. I spend my day surrounded by adorable schoolkidsin my computer lab. But I'm also a longtime user and someonewho knows their way around the web. There's no way in a million yearsI'd ever give my credentials to a website like Grouply. Justmy choice. Your mileage may vary!Here's my question for the founders, who will probably find this blogand hopefully comment.I've seen various web 2.0 services request for "authorization" to usemy stuff, like my Flickr photos. This is handled completelydifferently; I sign into my Account page and securely giveapplications permission to access my DATA but not my ACCOUNT DETAILS.Big difference. Is there a reason you could not have used a similarapproach? *THAT* would make this service a slam-dunk.To the curious, though, there is a way to try this service. Justcreate a second identity, and use it only for messaging. Signup for all your groups again using that identity. It would be kindainconvenient, but, you could get a sense for the real value of theservice without putting anything at risk. What do you think?I'll close with this thought. Conceptually, this is an EXTREMELY coolidea. I love the social networking implications and I love savingtime.But what about the risks? If you don't have a lot of personalinformation tied into your account,by all means, go for it! Ifyou do . I recommend you think twice."AGAIN - the above was written by a teacher not by any board member ofCDO but it gives you all an overview of Grouply.com**CDO's recommendation is to change your password and notuse Grouply.com. Our group access has been disabled.**Questions or concerns, please e-mail me directly atlinda.sorg@...Regards, SorgCDOwww.chromodisorder.org>>

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