About the
GCC Web

More Commentary on Commercial Portals

For Fiscal Responsibility:	Accept/view education as a business. What about how the District is benefitting from the student profiling data already being collected? We are no different than any other organization. Will create enormous monetary implications. The MCCCD should collect data on our students because we are in the market for their business. It's cost effective. We can provide more services. Vendors are wanting to provide free portals. Students don't need to be protected by the college. Students are already surfing the internet and are experiencing profiling and advertisement. Commercial portals should be paying us for the privilege. Portals provide customer loyalty -- in colleges' best interest to provide portals.
For Privacy of Students:	[NEW 1/7/01] It seems clear that an infringement upon privacy as frivolous as selling anyone's web surfing profile to the business world is strictly ruled out by this districtwide policy... See entire comment... Why do we need to continue to sell out? Learn to value education over commercialism. We should learn not to compare ourselves with business--we have students, not customers. We educate; we don't have a product. Otherwise we are no better than the portals with their advertising. I feel the outside portal/banners/marketing can be a deterrent to education. Student would spend too much time trying to figure out site instead of meeting career goals. Violation of FERPA. Selling the students out to companies for their profit. I have never seen advertising at other institutions. Students can go to wherever to make their own portals. To sellout? Or not to sellout? Maintain integrity of institution. Do we need this web service the company provides? I would lose respect for an institution that would even consider allowing this to happen. Please don't compromise the students. We are selling the privacy of our students. When we allow littering on our educational sites. Bait and switch tactics of vendor companies. If we don't take care of web site, how can we control abuse? A dilution of the educational institution is a real issue that needs to be addressed. We're an educational institution, not commercial. Privacy is essential. Students are our clients not software marketers. Leave as is. Violates student privacy. Educational institutions should be sacred places uninfluenced by commercial interests. Students are here to learn how to think and they should do this without pressing or influence from corporate interests. Do not sell our students out to companies. Do not sell the GCC name or logo to any company. There has to be a catch. I think there should be no profiling or collection of data by any entity other than the Maricopa Community College Student System Info. Ethically we should not sell or web sites.
General Commentary:	Only [make a portal deal] as last resort financially. Portals are very expensive. Could be developed, but are they needed. Why do we need a portal? Why don't we develop it ourselves? Focus on preventing fires rather than putting them out. Why do not colleges advertise classes, educational opportunities, provided within the district? Institution should not have a right to make a decision for student. We're here to educate students not making decisions to see if they should be advertised to. Advertisement content cannot be controlled.
Links for learning more about this topic: The Council on Law in Higher Education posts a menu of information about student privacy, including FERPA links, at http://clhe.org/issues/studentpri.htm. The Tenth GVU WWW User Survey (1998), a widely cited source of research on web usage, includes a section about the public's attitudes regarding privacy issues at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/graphs/graphs.html#privacy. Webopedia defines a web portal and provides links on the subject of web portals at http://webopedia.internet.com/Internet_and_Online_Services/Internet/Web_portal.html. Provide additional commentary Proceed to: Commercial Portals: 1. What Do We Need To Learn? Return to: Introduction to Commercial Portals Danger in the Construction Zone Contents WebDev 2000 Contents