The social network for trade unionists - a LabourStart project.

Security

I was surprised to have Google Alerts send me some excerpts from UnionBook postings. It seems that the default setting allows all groups to be indexed. In other words, our discussions should be regarded as totally open. I don't mind this, personally, but I think it needs to be made clear before someone gets into trouble.

More to the point, is there a way that we can have some groups which are confidential? I've just set up a "members only" group for the New Unionism Network. At present it can be moderated, sure, and members must also be approved, but is there any way that discussions can be closed to engines? Obviously, this is an important feature that unions will need.

Tags: privacy, security

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian Ross Ashley on February 7, 2011 at 0:12

I dunno, Peter. I've always worn my hammer-and-sickle-with-big-black-4 on my sleeve, if you will, and I'm sure my file at Canadian Security and Intelligence Service HQ was an inch thick before they went electronic - if I wanted to keep something secret I'd keep it off the Internet entirely.

Permalink Reply by Peter HJ on February 7, 2011 at 4:11

Appreciate what you're saying, Brian. I'm just trying to find out whether a collective could use UnionBook to discuss strategy and tactics for campaigns or negotiations, or whatever. What's the word, Eric... is there any way we can use it for this?

Permalink Reply by Eric Lee on February 7, 2011 at 6:01

Sorry to give this answer, but am currently very pressed for time: I think we can have members only groups that are not searched by Google, that one needs a password to view. But to know for sure, someone (at the moment, that won't be me) needs to visit ning.com and look through their online documentation. If there's no obvious answer, I can approach the company (or the community of Ning users) for an answer. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Peter HJ on February 7, 2011 at 19:26

Cheers. I'll do this.

Eric Lee said:

Sorry to give this answer, but am currently very pressed for time: I think we can have members only groups that are not searched by Google, that one needs a password to view. But to know for sure, someone (at the moment, that won't be me) needs to visit ning.com and look through their online documentation. If there's no obvious answer, I can approach the company (or the community of Ning users) for an answer. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Peter HJ on February 9, 2011 at 21:45

Looks like it's a standard feature in Ning:

Moderation & Privacy

Choose to make your Ning Network public or private for members only. Moderate members before they join. Moderate photos, videos, groups, chat and events before items are posted.

(from http://about.ning.com/product/).

That said, I haven't been able to work out how it would be done. Are you using Ning Pro? Might be a matter of adding "Huddle Workspaces" http://developer.ning.com/ningapps

Eric Lee said:

Sorry to give this answer, but am currently very pressed for time: I think we can have members only groups that are not searched by Google, that one needs a password to view. But to know for sure, someone (at the moment, that won't be me) needs to visit ning.com and look through their online documentation. If there's no obvious answer, I can approach the company (or the community of Ning users) for an answer. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Andy Funnell on July 18, 2011 at 8:09