Google Sites Privacy and Security

Privacy and Security in Google Sites

When Google releases a new online application, one of their main concerns is always that of your security and privacy. The release of Google Sites and the applications ability to be used by a group of people and not just one web page creator has presented some unique privacy and security control options. Here we are going to break down the privacy and security information based on two different categories which are: site owners and site collaborators.

Site Owners

The owners of a created Google Sites page have the most control in regards to the sites privacy and security. Owners have the ability to share the entire created site with the public, or to have pages within the site that are only viewable to people the owner approves of. Other abilities that the site owner has include:

• Changing site themes and layout
• Export backups
• Import to restore from backup

Owners are also the ones who have the most information logged by Google and who must adhere to Google’s standard Privacy and Security rules.

Site Collaborators

Once a site owner has added a collaborator, there are a select amount of functions that are available under the privacy and security allowance from the owner. For example, a collaborator can create, edit and move pages but they view the same privacy information on other collaborators and viewers as the site owner can.

Also, collaborators are seen as a type of extension from the site owner. This means that individually they are not held to the same standard of privacy and security as the site owner is. Under Google, the collaborators are not responsible for the site and therefore the site owner is held accountable for any violation that occurs from the creation and use of the site itself.

Google’s standard privacy and security policies and be read online at: Google Apps Admin Help – Privacy and Security .