G-Suite and Google Home

Google Home is the new digital assistant offered by Google; it competes with the Amazon Echo lines of products. 

Google Home has a lot of desirable features and - in terms of a comparison between it and the Amazon Echo - this reviewer thought Home was a superior value. I'd tend to agree.

However, one of the most disappointing aspects of this product is that it doesn't work entirely with G-Suite accounts.

Yes, you read that right. It's a terrible bleeding-edge situation with the product right now.

With the right Domain settings, your G-Suite account can be paired to the device for its activation, but Google Home can't interact with your email or calendar. Yet. I get the impression that Google will be resolving that over time.

Okay. If you're not dissuaded, and if you believe that Google will (eventually) remedy that situation with its own backend solution, and, if you have a G-Suite account that you want to pair against the device, there's two settings that you have to enable under your Google Admin Console.

Enable Google Now

1. Login to your Google Admin Console.

2. Access Device Management, under Mobile, Advanced Settings, Other Google Services.

3. Make sure Google Now for iOS and Android is checked.

4. Save your settings.

Enable Web Access to Your Organization

1. Login to your Google Admin Console.

2. Access Apps, Additional Google Services.

3. Look for Web and Web Activity. Make sure it's on for Everyone or the Orgs you select.

4. Save your settings.

These settings will take some time to propagate through Google's servers; allow yourself up to 24 hours for propagation time.

Once this is done, run through pairing (setting up) the Google Home device using the Google Home app on your iOS or Android device. Sign in with your G-Suite account.

If it fails, it'll outright tell you that Google Home can't be paired against the account and to select a standard GMail account.

If it works, it'll tell you that you can continue with the G-Suite account but some of its features will be unavailable. 

Generally, I've staged two Home devices thus far and I'm content to wait Google out for G-Suite connectivity. I understand this is new technology and it'll take them some time to address the product throughout the entire ecosystem. Still, if you're impatient and looking for a work-around, I think this would work if you're not security-conscious:

1. Set yourself up a generic free Gmail account.

2. Setup forwarding from your G-Suite account to the Gmail account.

3. Setup a Send-As alias from the Gmail account that aliases your G-Suite account.

4. Share your G-Suite Calendar to the Gmail account with full control.

5. Pair the Google Home device against the Gmail account, and select the default calendars to use with the device.

Aside from the obvious security implications of routing your crap through a non-commercial account, I understand this will actually work. Myself, I'm not willing to do this - I'll wait under Google resolves the G-Suite connectivity issue on their own.

R

Access to Digital Assets After Death

Believe it or not, accessing private data after death has historically been an act of hacking. Yeah, imagine having to hack your loved one's accounts to get access to important stuff like checking and savings accounts, bill paying systems, accounting systems, or invoicing systems.

Essentially, survivors would need to impersonate the deceased, guess at passwords or have passwords rotated by a hack to access accounts, of have secure systems compromised to access data.

And legally, the heir or assign of an individual didn't have any rights to the data. That data was owned by the account holder (who is now dead) and there wasn't a legal transference of digital property rights.

However, effective June 2016 in the State of Washington, this has changed with the adoption of 11.120 RCW Uniform Fiduciary Access to to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA).

UFADAA establishes a standard process for a fiduciary to access the secured digital assets of the deceased found on their devices (computers and mobile devices) and their online accounts.

This special access is limited: it grants the fiduciary access to essentially collect the data and close the account; it doesn't allow for the account of the deceased account to survive forever. 

UFADAA also allows for data to be collected from the principal, accumulated by a designated custodian of the data, cataloged, and held in a trust. It also allows the principal to shield some kinds of data from their fiduciary.

Some companies are more progressive on these matters - like Facebook - allow you to identify legacy accounts: fiduciaries on Facebook that would presumably survive the deceased and could get access to the account to memorialize it. Most companies are far behind this curve of being able to identify others who could access their digital assets after death.

The court can assign data custodians and so can businesses and individuals. However, it's recommended that a will/Power of Attorney specifically declare UFADDA rights.

If you're concerned about this - and if you own a business, you'd want to be concerned about this - you'd want to speak to your attorney about including UFADDA rights into your succession planning.

Also, you'd want to check online services that offer legacy accounts (or some means of designating authorized survivors) and set those up.

And finally, you'd want to grant some degree of access to your password manager for the fiduciary following your demise. Most password manager services allow for a legacy account to be designated; otherwise, a master password, written on paper, stored in a sealed envelope, and safeguarded in a safe place, may also suffice (a broken seal may be a visual trigger to reset passwords).

Teaching Others About Digital Security and Privacy

Nearly everything we do is digital: our banking and commerce; our interactivity and socialization; our education and information exchange; our entertainment; our politics and our dissent. So much of our lives have an electric footprint.

Therefore, it's in the interest of everyone to better manage the risks of digital media. In the spirit of teaching others how to do something than to simply do it for them, Mickler & Associates, Inc. is joining forces with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to help train, educate, and show others how to manage their data securely and confidentially.

The Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA) is a network of grassroots groups taking action in their own local communities to promote digital rights.

As an EFA member organization, we believe that technology should support the intellectual freedom at the heart of a democratic society. In the digital age, that entails advancing:

• Free Expression
  People should be able to speak their minds to whoever will listen.
  

• Security
  Technology should be trustworthy and answer to its users.
  

• Privacy
  Technology should allow private and anonymous speech, and allow users to set their own parameters about what to share with whom.
  

• Creativity
  Technology should promote progress by allowing people to build on the ideas, creations, and inventions of others.
  

• Access to Knowledge
  Curiosity should be rewarded, not stifled.

We uphold these principles by fighting for transparency and freedom in culture, code, and law. Locally, Mickler & Associates, Inc. will be promoting these ideals by:

• Holding online and on-ground seminars about digital security and privacy.

• Creating training videos and other digital assets that could be shared and disseminated.

• Commercial and non-commercial training.

• Private consultations and service engagements.

• Corporate events.

• Offering up training for students and to community activists.

• Donating our time and experience to non-profits.

Want to know more, or, how we could lend a hand to you or your local organization? Contact us. We can chit-chat about the possibilities and see where Mickler & Associates, Inc. could add value. Thanks.

R