We do a lot of work with organizations that have sensitive information (e.g. immigrant-advocate groups that have alien-status info and stuff like that or direct-action protest groups) and Google has been known to fork over that info when court-ordered. There have also been a few situations like this:
where a gmail account is just deleted. Bam. Gone. This case here is really a matter of always backing up your email/information but you get the picture. For many MANY things, Google produces the best option for a given SaaS but your data isn't safe from the government (insert paranoid catch phrase here) and sometimes it's not even safe from Google. But for the most part Google Docs is a GREAT option for nonprofits as long as they realize that there is a legitimate possibility of loss and data getting into people's hands that they may not like.
Comment from Julia Taylor on January 7, 2009 - 3:57pm
so I'm wondering...WHY is it bad to use Google docs/apps exclusively for my organization?
Julia
Comment from Matthew Garcia on January 7, 2009 - 5:02pm
We do a lot of work with organizations that have sensitive information (e.g. immigrant-advocate groups that have alien-status info and stuff like that or direct-action protest groups) and Google has been known to fork over that info when court-ordered. There have also been a few situations like this:
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/22209.html
where a gmail account is just deleted. Bam. Gone. This case here is really a matter of always backing up your email/information but you get the picture. For many MANY things, Google produces the best option for a given SaaS but your data isn't safe from the government (insert paranoid catch phrase here) and sometimes it's not even safe from Google. But for the most part Google Docs is a GREAT option for nonprofits as long as they realize that there is a legitimate possibility of loss and data getting into people's hands that they may not like.