Brown’s IT Department Pissed at Google

by Qichen Zhang | September 29, 2009 at 12:40 pm

customer serviceRecently, Google suspended 22 Gmail accounts at Brown due to a bug that allowed those students to read other students’ emails. This occurred as Google was transitioning some accounts from Microsoft Exchange to Gmail. In some cases, students were able to read others’ entire inboxes for a full three days between September 12 and September 14.

But after Google froze the accounts the following week without notifying any IT authorities at the university, Brown’s Computing and Information Services department threw a minor hissy fit, citing a lack of communication with the company, even after the problem was fixed within a few days. Director Donald Tom later elaborated:

I’ve spoken very forcefully with the account [executive], my boss, senior administrators at Brown–including the president. [Google needs] to find a better way to communicate with us.

But looks like Tom had an awfully quick change of heart during the span of time between being interviewed by the Brown Daily Herald and Sarah Perez. In an article published by the Herald on September 16, Tom seemed to get over himself.

… I think that overall, I was just impressed with how fast they handled it.

That’s what she said.

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